


Not even death do us apart

by Destinee Zara (LadyDestineeZara)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (does this counts as “Major Character Death”?), Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angst, M/M, Medical Torture, Mentions of War, Minor Lotura, Past Torture, Period-Typical Homophobia, Two major characters are already dead when the story starts, mentions of murders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-04-07 11:03:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14079486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDestineeZara/pseuds/Destinee%20Zara
Summary: Dealing with spirits wasn't something new to Hunk.It was his job after all. He might not like it so much sometimes (ok, a lot of times), but he was used to it.However, this case was different from all others before.There was something off with the fire that destroyed that old asylum.Who started it? Why?Who was the spirit that stayed behind?Hunk was determined to get at the bottom of it.(A Sheith ghost love story)





	1. "Don't hold it against us"

**Author's Note:**

> Standard disclaimer: English is not my first language, so there is just one peculiarity before you start reading:  
> \- [Text after dashes] = TALKING (A Romance Language custom)  
> "[Text between quotation marks]" = THINKING  
>  _Text in italic_ = QUOTES OR MEMORIES  
>  " _Text in italic between quotation marks_ " = SPIRITS TALKING
> 
> Now, to the story!

_Don’t hold it against us._

When Hunk had read that phrase the first time, he couldn’t know what that meant.

Hold what against whom?

The fact that it was written in a metal door as it had been scraped by nails didn’t help at all the shiver that ran down his spine.

_Don’t hold it against us._

\- Guys, I have a bad, bad, _really bad_ feeling about this.

Lance rolled his eyes.

\- Yeah, big guy. You said that a few times already.

\- And I’ll say again so you can _give up of this stupid idea_!

Matt chuckled and Pidge grumbled.

\- You say that to every work we get. – she kept grumbling annoyed.

\- That’s because you’re not the one SEEING THE GHOSTS!

Was he screaming? Yes, he was.

Why? _Because he was fucking scared._

Their job was to deal with spirits that stayed behind.

Spirits were real.

They walked the earth just like humans do.

Most of them make a safe passage. Otherwise, Earth would be more ghost than living people by now.

Some didn’t.

They stayed behind.

Mankind always had ghost stories, but it was only in the beginning of the 20th Century (not too long after WW1, in the 1920’s) that spirits became less of a legend and more of a reality. Sensitive individuals (or people with the “third eye” as they usually called themselves) started coming on public to talk about spirits and prove their existence. More than just for show, they wanted more respect and proper care for the deceased ones who stayed behind. Now, about 100 years after those first demonstrations, that was already common knowledge (even if many people still insist to deny, with their heads stuck in the past).

With that new information, a new line of business was born.

Real estate agencies and brokers paid them a very good amount of money to get rid of any malevolent spirits that could cause havoc on the place. After all, why should they not sell a good property just because someone was killed there?

That usually drives Hunk very angry.

How could they be so insensitive with the dead!?

If someone didn’t make the passage, they have a reason for that! Spirits should be respected, not forced out of that word because they weren’t “good for business” or because they “lower the selling price”.

Hunk grumbled annoyed and scared.

Maybe that insensitivity was because very few people were able to see the spirits.

Non-sensitive people could feel the spirits action on themselves (and suffer with that, sometime even getting hurt) and under the right circumstances they could have some glimpses on the spirits. However, they could hardly communicate with the deceased. It was hard to keep a communication line.

Third-eyed people on the other hand could see the spirits at any given time. They could feel their presence, not only their actions. That made them perfect to talk with the deceased to help them to make their passage.

To someone as terrified of things as Hunk, his third eye was pretty much a very annoying blessing. He wanted to help the spirits, but that didn’t change the fact that he was terrified of them.

Hunk felt a shiver run down his spine for apparently no reason.

He felt the hair at the back of his neck stand up for one moment.

He heard something…

A faint whisper…

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

His heart beat fast in fear.

Hunk shivered.

He already could feel the presence of the spirit. He felt as if something was off. He just wasn’t sure if it was only his own fear speaking of if they would have troubles with that spirit.

\- Did you heard that?

His friends and co-workers frowned.

\- Nothing. – Matt answered.

\- Did you hear something, big guy? – Lance asked putting his hand on Hunk’s shoulder.

Lance’s hand was warm.

Very warm.

Apparently, Hunk hadn’t noticed the first sign of a spirit until that moment: unnatural coldness.

It was too cold inside the abandoned building for a July afternoon.

The others apparently were being affected by that too. Matt had shivered a few times and some cold fog left Lance’s mouth when he talked to Hunk.

\- I heard a whisper. – he answered – “Don’t hold it against us”.

\- Like on the door for this wing? – Pidge asked, immediately turning on the electromagnetic sensor.

Hunk nodded, feeling dizzy.

\- Yeah… We shouldn’t be here.

\- Don’t worry, Hunk. – Matt smirked, trying to reassure him and grabbing the sonic ghostbuster – He have you covered.

The sonic ghostbuster as the team called (yeah, it was a silly name. But at least it was better than “ghost repeller 2000” as Lance wanted to call it) was an ultrasound emitter. Sounds above the range humans could hear were excellent to repel spirits, especially the angry ones. Even when it wasn’t turned on, it emitted a low ultrasound that protected it from the spirits, avoiding letting them interfere with the guns.

Hunk hated when they had to use it. It would bother the spirits and give him a headache.

\- Keep that thing off. – Hunk said with a frown and a shiver – We’re gonna try to talk first.

Most spirits were Calm Spirits. They were still there for the things they love. They were worried about their money, their house, their flowers, their pets, their kids, their spouses. Some talk and a few arrangements would usually make the spirits happy enough to go to the afterlife peacefully.

Then there were the Angry Spirits…

Those were the nasty ones.

Lance grabbed his own sonic ghostbuster.

\- Whatever you say, buddy.

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

Hunk clenched his jaw.

He really hated his job sometimes.

It was all Pidge’s idea. The whole business.

Who knew _they_ could actually make money getting rid of spirits, huh?

But just because he was being paid, it didn’t mean that Hunk liked or approved that. At least he could help those spirits in the proper way instead of what many other did: exorcising the building.

“Lucky” him that he was the only with the third eye sight on the group and he _had to_ be there in every job to protect the others.

Pidge looked at her sensors.

\- According to my readings, the spirit is on the third floor.

Hunk _really_ hated his job.

He did his homework, though, before going into the building. It was always fundamental to research what happened on the buildings they were going to and the history around it.

For this job, they were at an old asylum. It had been closed since 1965, after a fire burned most of the building. That specific wing seemed to be the epicentre of the tragedy. It had been a real massacre, with most people on that wing dying because the door had been locked (the same door with the “ _Don’t hold it against us_ ” carving). Doctors, nurses and inmates: all died in the flames. 92 people in total.

One of them, apparently, stayed behind.

Arson. That is what the fire department categorized it as. There had been no survivors to tell the tale of who did that. The only three clues the police had on the identity of the arsonist were: a two and a half inches metal cylinder with the width of a pen on the lock of the Eastern ward (blocking the exit); a ziplock lighter with the name “Keith” carved on the metal on one of the procedure rooms;  a military machine gun (the same type used in the Vietnam War. Many soldier that had come home from the war kept them) on the basement, on the dirty clothes’ dump. There had been reports of gunshots before the fire begin. Nobody was arrested and there was no clue to who was responsible for that.

The wife of the owner (one of the old doctors in charge of the asylum originally), Dr. Haggar, had tried 20 years earlier, in the 90’s, to reform and re-open the asylum (even with the new legislation against locking up mentally ill patients). She was found dead mysteriously one night. Also, she was buried with a closed casket.

Nobody tried to re-open after that.

The new owner of the old building, Lotor Daibazaal, had inherited it from his father. He was their employer for that job.

“- I want to get rid of that place.” He had said when he contracted them. The four were sitting on Lotor’s elegant and big office in the top of a expensive skyscraper. He wasn’t looking at them. He had his back to the group and he was looking at what seemed like to be an old black leather photo album “- To build something new there. Maybe a Shopping Centre.”

Lotor had chuckled at the thought.

Lotor was a man on his mid-thirties. A lawyer. From what Hunk gathered on his research, he didn’t have a good relationship with his parents. It was already weird that Dr. Haggar and Governor Zarkon Daibazaal had decided to have a kid when they were both close to their fifties, and apparently they didn’t succeed on raising him, for Lotor seemed a little too eager to get rid of all his deceased father’s properties and deny any of his mother’s merit.

He had looked to the outside, with his eyes lost in the distance. Hunk could see his smile on the reflex on the window’s glass.

“- I want this situation to be dealt quietly and in the most sensitive way possible.” he said, still looking far away “I can’t have revengeful poltergeists on my new business.”

Although Hunk didn’t like Lotor’s plans for that area, he really appreciated that at least he had the decency to hire them to deal with the spirits first. It seemed to be the sensible approach too, since many people who had trespassed on the years after the place shutting down died in mysterious conditions.

Mysterious and gruesome.

Some had their head sliced in perfect five slices.

Others had their skin pulled while they were still alive and then had their necks broken.

Some seemed to have been electrocuted and burned alive.

Others had one of their organs removed and bled to death.

There was also some people who were dismembered, others who were sawed in half and other cruel and creatives way to die.

Hunk clenched his jaw again as they kept walking up, towards the third floor.

The wing was burned in many places. The structure had resisted, but the dark marks were still in the floor, the walls and on the occasional gurney and wheelchair. At some points, the floor had collapsed due to the years without maintenance and the damage caused by the fire and rain water. They walked carefully near those parts.

As they ascended, something in the back of Hunk’s head started to get restless.

The place wasn’t… _cold_ enough.

He had been dealing with spirits his whole life.

Calm Spirits would make the places they haunt cold, but it wasn’t freezing. Just a mere consequence of being dead, and not something malevolent. It was like a breezy night. Chilly, but nothing that a jacket or hoodie couldn’t handle. Those kind of spirits rarely killed anybody, only in extreme cases.

Angry Spirits…

Those would always make the places colder as the harshest winter with their own malevolence.

And they would kill at the minimum trespassing. Meaning that they must be dealing with an Angry Spirit on that building.

Hunk was cold, yes.

But it wasn’t a “Angry Spirit” cold.

\- Guys, something’s wrong.

\- What’s it, Hunk?

\- It’s… not _cold_ enough.

They all stared at him unimpressed.

\- Seriously, Hunk? – Matt asked rolling his eyes.

\- Yes, Matthew, _seriously_!

\- Calm down, buddy. – Lance put a hand on his arm – I’ll protect you.

Lance had always been his friend, and the first to ever believe him about the spirits. Hunk tried to relax, but he couldn’t help but feel like something was especially wrong with that spirit.

They passed some weird shrine.

It was built on top of a metal and rusty gurney in one side of the corridor.

The shrine had some candles that seemed to have been lit at some point in the past. They were on top of silver candle-holders that seemed too expensive for that place. Near the candles, there was a ziplock lighter with the phrase “Fire it up” carved on the metal in elegant letters.

There were at least three bundles of dried flowers, all of them red.

There were some origami in the centre. They were made of fine Japanese paper in colourful patterns.

There was also an old pocketknife. It seemed that it haven’t been used for a few decades.

There were three sheets of paper with drawings in one of the shrine’s corner. They were side by side. The first one was very childish and the oldest of them: a red cat drawn with crayons. The second seemed more elaborated, and it depicted two lions, one in black ink and the other in red ink. The third was the newest one, a very talented portrait of a handsome young man. He had dark and long hair and fair eyes. He looked at the viewer with a confident smile. There was a second person in the picture, but whoever they were, they were incomplete. It was possible to see a hand on the shoulder of the young man. It seemed to be made of metal, like some kind of prosthetics. The metal hand was missing it’s little finger.

Lastly, there were a few teddy bears there. Two seemed to have been left there at some point and nobody had touched them since then. They were still untouched by anyone other than who put them there. However, one of them, a red hippo plushie, seemed to have been very well loved through the years. The beloved plushie of a toddler. The hippo was on the floor, as if it had fallen from the gurney recently.

\- Someone’s been trying to keep the spirit calm. – Lance commented looking at the shrine. He frowned at the last picture – I admire the talent of the artist, but a mullet? He could have drawn a better hairstyle.

 - It’s probably how the spirit looked. – Pidge said taking a picture of the drawing and the whole shrine to document the case.

\- Still tacky. – Lance rolled his eyes.

Matt hummed.

\- If they were trying to keep him quiet, they did a good job, considering that this dude haven’t killed anybody in the last 20 years.

The last victim had been Dr. Haggar.

\- He still killed all the people on the fire and at least 45 people in 30 years though. – Pidge said with a frown – The owner should have called the professionals a lot earlier.

\- The shrine’s still better than an exorcism. – Hunk commented, gently picking the plush hippo and putting it back on the gurney.

Exorcisms were a way to force the spirits to go to the afterlife. That always seemed to hurt, so Hunk preferred to try to talk to them first.

He had just put the hippo back on its place when he heard the whisper again, louder this time.

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

All four raised their heads.

\- Did you hear…

\- Yeah!

\- We must be close.

The sun had set and darkness was starting to spread there.

Great conditions for a spirit to be seen and maybe even heard by non-sensitive people. They rarely could have complete conversations, but it was already something.

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

\- Come on, let’s go! – Pidge said, walking fast towards the sound.

The others followed her.

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

A shiver ran down on Hunk’s spine.

Something was not right…

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

They were running towards the end of the corridor, to what seemed like some sort of procedure room.

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

Hunk couldn’t shook the feeling that there was something wrong.

The whispers were followed by a “thud” sound coming from the end of the hall.

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

It was too warm for an Angry Spirit.

But before Hunk could tell that again to his friends, they opened the room’s door.

Spirits, giving the right conditions (just like the ones on that moment), could appear as real and solid as living people. They could _be_ as solid as living people at some moments. The difference was that they couldn’t keep the solid form for long, especially not under the sun. The longest Hunk had seen had been an hour.

Oh, and they could do things normal humans couldn’t, of course. Illusions, interfering with electricity, making things levitate and others.

The room was completely burned. It really seemed to have been some sort of procedure room, with some machines burned to the crispy in a corner and an operation table in the centre with burned things that had an awful resemblance with restrains.

There was a person in the corner of the room. He had his back turned to the group.

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

He hit his head on the wall, making the thud they had been hearing.

He was the one whispering that phrase.

The spirit was wearing pants and what looked like to be a grimy straightjacket. His hands weren’t tied, though. His head was shaved and he seemed very thin.

As the group had been getting closer, he had been saying the same sentence with more urgency and hitting his head against the wall.

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

Thud.

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

Thud.

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

Thud.

The sensation that something was wrong, that it was too warm there for a murdering spirit, still made Hunk feel very uneasy.

\- I have a bad feeling, guys. Let’s go back, please. – he begged in a whisper – We can come back later.

Lance, however, was already walking towards the spirit.

\- Hey, you!

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

\- Are you listening?

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

\- I’m talking to you!

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

“ _Don’t hold it against us.”_

Lance took more steps towards him.

\- Lance! Stop!

But he didn’t listen.

He was going to put a hand on the spirit’s shoulder when the spirit turned around.

It was a fluid, disjointed and unnatural movement, as if every articulation had been dislocated at the same time and then adjusted into a new position by the movements of invisible strings.

He had sunken dull blue eyes and he was pale like death itself. He had electric burns on both sides of his head, angry scarlet dendriform shapes. On the left side, there was a big and ominous scar, cutting right behind his ear.

The spirit was crying. His eyes were glazed and there was something behind them.

Something hollow.

His lips moved, but the sound came only with a one second delay.

“ ** _You don’t know what we have been through._** ”

Flames burst from behind him.

One of the abilities that the spirits could have was to burn things in the blink of an eye.

Lance jumped behind. Matt and he had the sonic ghostbusters ready to shoot the spirit. The idea was to control him so Hunk could talk to him.

However, before they had the chance, Hunk felt a frightful shiver in the back of his neck. Just like the sensation of an Angry Spirit.

But stronger.

By the gods, he had never felt that kind of fear before.

Petrifying…

Ghastly…

 _Cold_.

It lasted for less than a second.

Enough time for the sonic ghostbusters to fly from his friends’ hands.

No spirit, Angry or not, had _ever_ been able to interfere with the sonic ghostbusters.

Hunk felt the blood run cold.

The room was catching fire.

It was impossible to tell if it was real or not.

The spirit was convulsing.

\- RUN!

The team run towards the stairs in panic. Pidge even let her electronic devices fall in her rush to get out of there. The only thing they were still carrying were their flashlights.

Hunk was the slower of them. He wasn’t made to run like that. His fear was powering his muscles to run faster, but there was still limits for what raw adrenaline could help him.

What the fuck was that spirit?

What the fuck was going on?

In his rush to get out, he didn’t see where he was stepping.

The floor broke under him.

The last thing Hunk remembered before blacking out was his friends screaming his name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making off of this story:
> 
> Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!  
> Welcome to this fanfic!
> 
> I started writing it while I was still in Med School, but only now (after I dropped it) is that I'm continuing it.
> 
> It's a Sheith story, and Keith was already introduced here. Shiro will show up next chapter, and that's all the spoilers I'm gonna give xD
> 
> Updates every Saturday! =D
> 
> But hey! Do you want to know how to read the next chapter before next Saturday? Or, do you want to know how to support the writer?  
>  **[[Click here]](http://wonderland-s-angel.tumblr.com/post/172207915641/updates-every-saturday-do-you-want-to-read)**
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you have enjoyed the story so far! Leave a kudo and a comment if you liked!
> 
> I'm on tumblr if you want to find me, [@wonderland-s-angel](http://wonderland-s-angel.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> Comments help me to get going, you know. Like, SERIOUSLY, they keep me going. I feed on them and I'm always hungry. And there's the magical button if you want to help even more ;D
> 
> 'till next week!  
> bye-bye o/


	2. Lovers lost in the fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimer: English is not my first language, so there is just one peculiarity before you start reading:  
> \- [Text after dashes] = TALKING (A Romance Language custom)  
> "[Text between quotation marks]" = THINKING  
>  _Text in italic_ = QUOTES OR MEMORIES  
>  " _Text in italic between quotation marks_ " = SPIRITS TALKING
> 
> Now, to the story!

The first thing Hunk noticed when he woke up was the cold. God, he was shivering. His teeth were chattering even while he was passed out.

The second was the pain on his right leg. If he had to guess, he’d say he had broken it on the fall. At least he was alive, he guessed.

The third was a person shaking him awake.

\- Hey, buddy. Wake up.

He opened his eyes slowly with a groan.

He seemed to be two floors down. How he didn’t die, Hunk didn’t know. The room seemed to be an old room for the inmates, with an old and burned bed and many debris.

The man who was shaking him smiled.

\- Good to see that you’re still in the land of the living!

Some white fog left the man’s mouth while he was talking.

Hunk sighed in relief. With that, he was 99% sure that the man was alive.

His grandma, who also had the third eye sight, always said to him to never believe that someone was alive until they saw them in the sun. For some weird reason, spirits hated it and couldn't stay solid under sunlight. Hunk always found that advice very prudent.

The fog was still a nice clue too, though.

Fog meant breathing. Almost none of the spirits could mimic that.

\- Where… am I…? – he asked slowly, massaging his head and siting.

The man helped him sit.

\- Ground floor. That was a pretty nasty fall, buddy. You’re lucky to have survived.

The man was tall, strong and Asian. He had a strong jaw and kind brown eyes. His hair was cut in an undercut and it was all black. He looked to be in his earlier twenties. He was wearing jeans and combat boots, a white t-shirt and a vintage bomber jacket. The man had a thin chain around his neck with only one military dog tag on it. He was wearing a leather glove in his right hand.

He was crouched beside him.

Hunk blinked.

\- Who are you?

The stranger smiled friendly.

\- I’m Shiro. I’m with the team assembled to search for you.

\- Assembled?

\- Your friends called the cops as soon as they were out of the building.

\- Oh.

Shiro nodded still smiling.

\- Some people in the vicinity saw the commotion and offered to help. So here I am.

Hunk sighed in relief, his teeth still chattering.

\- Thank God!

Shiro chuckled.

\- What were you guys even doing here anyway? Everybody knows it’s not safe here.

Hunk massaged his forehead annoyed.

\- It’s kinda my job… but hey, can we continue this conversation outside? It’s…

He didn’t know if Shiro would believe him if he said that it was dangerous there because that coldness was supernatural. Although in recent years the public had started to accept that spirits were a real thing, there were still many skeptical people around. Hunk decided to use the common sense approach.

\- It’s too cold.

\- You should’ve thought about that before running on old buildings.

His tone was matter-of-fact in a brotherly way.

\- But, seriously, - he continued – what the hell you were thinking coming here?

\- Can we go now? I’m freezing.

\- Do you know how many people died here?

Hunk grumbled before answering. Apparently, he would have to explain the ghost part if he wanted to get out of there anytime soon.

\- I’m aware, ok? Can we go now? I really don’t want to be around when the crazy ghost get here.

Shiro’s eyes shone for one millisecond.

Yellow.

It was so fast that Hunk thought he had imagined that.

What the…

\- That’s not a nice word to describe one of the people locked here. – Shiro had a frown, but still had that “older brother” vibe on him, as if he was lecturing Hunk – Most of them were completely innocent and sane. Even the ones who weren’t didn’t deserve to be treated like that.

Even with the friendly tone, the way he said that made Hunk have goosebumps.

As if Shiro had been there.

He looked again at Shiro, feeling the cold get deeper within himself, almost drilling his bones.

Shiro seemed solid and real. There was the normal white fog leaving his mouth and his nose due to the coldness. His eyes were normal brown, and there was no sign of any yellow.

However, there was something disconcerting on that man kneeling beside him.

He wore the glove in only one hand.

Hunk didn’t know why that was bothering him so much now.

It was a normal black leather glove, like the ones used to ride motorcycles. All the fingers were there.

Wait…

The little finger…

The little finger seemed to be hollow.

Hunk felt his stomach drop in dread.

One of the only three things the police found was a two and a half inches metal cylinder with the width of a pen.

The probably measurement of a little finger.

Shiro’s little finger.

Hunk gulped.

Also, he was wearing a military dog tag.

The third clue found was a carbonized machine gun. Just like what the military used at that time and that many soldiers kept after being discharged from the Vietnam War.

Hunk’s heart was beating fast in fright.

He tried to move quietly, to get as much distance as he could. However, his leg hurts like hell. It was broken, making an escape impossible.

Shiro blinked with worry.

\- Are you ok, buddy? You look pale.

His clothes could seem normal at a first look, but the type of jeans, the boots and the jacket were way too vintage to be just a coincidence.

And it was _freezing_ on that room.

\- C-can we just go? – he felt in the verge of tears – P-please?

\- Of course, buddy! – was there something twisted on Shiro’s smile or was Hunk’s fear playing tricks on him? – I’m just curious, that’s all.

The other spirit wasn’t that cold.

Enlightenment struck him.

The spirit said, over and over, “don’t hold it against **us** ”.

_Us._

He was trying to warn them.

There wasn’t only one spirit who was left behind, but two.

The Arsonist and the Sociopath.

\- I’ll tell you everything once we’re out.

\- Hum… Why not now? Is there something wrong about it?

He got closer to Hunk’s personal space.

Hunk tried to get away.

He could feel the blood running out of his face.

Shiro stared at him, his smile slowly turning into a petulant pout.

Then he chuckled and a new smile formed in his face.

A wicked smirk.

\- What’s the matter, Hunk?

He closed his eyes for a moment chuckling again. His forelock turned white and a reddish and angry scar showed up slicing from one cheek to the other, passing over his nose. The leather glove melted, showing a glowing metal hand, the same that was on the drawing on the shrine. His teeth were now sharper, animalistic sharp. When he opened his eyes, they were glowing in sinister yellow.

He was grinning now.

“ _You look like you’ve seen a ghost_.”

Hunk’s body was lifted and restrained in the air by invisible forces. It was cold, baleful bone-chilling vines making him freeze from the inside out. He screamed in pain when his damaged leg was violently grabbed.

Shiro stood in a feral graceful movement.

A predator tasting the blood in the air.

There was something about him that was different from all other spirits Hunk remembered seeing. He was the only one capable of interfering with the sonic ghostbuster and his presence was even chillier than any other Angry Ghost he had dealt with in the past.

And Hunk was at his mercy.

He trembled.

\- Please don’t kill me!

“ _Y̴̢͏ou͘͡ ̶͜͝s̨̕h͜͞͠o҉u̴̷͞l͢d̴̨͜ ̶hą̨v̨ȩ̸ ̸͝t͘͡h͏͢҉o̴͟ug̢͢h͏t͜ ab͡o̵͜ut̶͢ ̛̛ţh͘҉ą͡t̶̶ ̡̢b̛͟ef̷͞͏o̢r̶͟͡e̸ ̴e̕n̛͡t̵̢e͢͞͏r̸͢҉i̕n̵̛g̷ ͏͟he̸͟r̵̴̨ę ̧͝w̡͝it̵̢h͡ g̕͞u͟͝n͢s̡_ ” he said in an uncanny way and a serious expression.

\- I came here to talk! I swear!

“ ** _L̴I̢̨͢͠Ą̵̢̕͟R̡̢͡!̢͘͟_ ** ”

He gripped Hunk’s neck tightly, curing Hunk’s air supply.

However, he didn’t hold for much longer before he let him go. Shiro was smiling again, a crooked malevolent smile.

“ _You ̧know̛ ҉w̨ha͘t,̴ ͠H͘u̧nk?̴ ͞I l̸i͝k̷ed̴ you. You̸ seem͏s̷ ̷l̸ik̶e a ̶n̷ic͠e ̸g̢u҉y.̛ So ͜le͝t’͡s̸ play ̴a͢ ͢lit̵t̛le̵ g̢am̵e͏…̴”_

\- I don’t want to! Please let me go! Please! Please!

Shiro ignored his pleas.

“ _Į wi̸ll͜ p̧u͏ll͟ ̷on͢e of̷ yo͏ur͜ o͜rg̴ans ͡ou҉t of͘ y͏ou. I̡f̵ you͝ ͢sur͟v̕iv҉e, y̕ou’r͜ę ͘fŗee to̢ g͜o. If ̷no̵t…̵ ”_ he chuckled “ ** _t̵he̵̴̛n y͏o̕͜͢u̵̵'͏̨l͞l p̸̢e҉̵r͡i̶s͏h_** ҉”

\- Please, no! I didn’t come here to hurt you! Please, stop!

Once again, the Angry Spirit ignored him while he tapped his chin.

 “ _Ļet’s͘ s̴e͟e̛… ͞Ee̸ny͟_ ,”

He pointed to the top of Hunk’s chest (his lungs).

“ _M͠ee̵n_ y͢,”

He pointed to Hunk’s liver.

\- Please, don’t!

“ _M̷iny_ ҉,”

\- No!

He pointed to Hunk’s stomach.

Shiro let out a monstrously evil grin.

“ **Y҉͜O̴̧U͏͡!̵̛!** “

He aimed his metal hand to the centre of Hunk’s chest.

His heart.

Hunk felt tears in his eyes while he closed them.

“ _Takashi! No blood!_ ”

Hunk opened his eyes again just in time to see a figure run towards Shiro’s open arms.

“ _No blood! No blood! Please, no blood!_ ”

Although the room was still cold, as soon as that person entered, it was as if the harsh winter had given away its place to a timid spring. The temperature was becoming bearable and Hunk felt as if he could breathe easily without the cold air.

As if there had never been an Angry Spirit on the building to begin with.

Shiro had turned his back to him and he was kneeling on the floor to hug the other person.

With just a little bit of attention, it was possible to see that that person was the same one Hunk had seen on the third floor. He was still crying and he trembled in Shiro’s arms.

“ _Ok, babe, ok. No blood, no blood_ ” Shiro peppered the man’s face with kisses while crooning at him quietly.

Hunk was still held in place, so he couldn’t do much more than look at the couple kneeling on the floor and embracing each other. The first ghost mumbled things quietly to Shiro. Hunk could only hear his faint whispers and Shiro’s replies.

“ _But he tried to hurt you, baby._ ”

Urgent whispers.

“ _They would all have hurt you if I didn’t intervened. The one who got too close had a gun_.”

Rapid and repeated murmurs.

“ _Keith, he’s just like all the others._ ”

Hunk’s eyes widened.

 _Keith_ , just like the name on the ziplock lighter found on the crime scene. So that was, in fact, the arsonist.

Keith whispered again, showing Shiro something in his lap.

Shiro turned at Hunk with a frown.

“ _Did you put Mr. Red back on top of the gurney?_ ”

Hunk was about to ask who the fuck was “Mr. Red” when he noticed what Keith had in his lap.

The plushie.

The red hippopotamus plushie that Hunk had picked from the floor and put back on the shrine.

 ** _That_** was the reason apparently that made Keith intercede for him.

Maybe the only reason.

A simple act of kindness.

An act that shouldn’t mean anything because it was really small.

Not even Hunk’s younger cousins would have thought much of it, and they loved their own plushies.

Small act with great effects.

Hunk had been saved by the butterfly effect.

Motherfucking butterfly effect!

He nodded desperately.

\- Yes! I did! I put him back!

Shiro frowned, as if evaluating him.

That could be his only chance to survive, so Hunk took it.

\- I’m not here to hurt any of you. I just want to talk, I swear!

Shiro kept staring at him. Keith leaned on his lap to whisper something right at the other ghost’s ear, before kissing his cheek.

Hunk bit his lip in apprehension. His heart was still fast with fear.

At last, Shiro rolled his eyes and lowered Hunk to the floor. In an incomprehensible movement, he was now sitting on the floor facing the living man. He was glaring at Hunk. His eyes were once again brown and his teeth seemed normal. His hand wasn’t glowing.

Keith was sitting on his lap comfortably. He too was looking at Hunk with his hollow eyes. He seemed to try to hide inside Shiro’s jacket and under Shiro’s chin. The plushie was secure in his own lap.

“ _You’ve got yourself one chance._ ” Shiro said harshly “ _Now, start talking_.”

Hunk was sitting with his right leg stretched and left leg blended to make him stay straight. He took a deep breath before talking very fast.

\- We’re hired to help you pass to the other side I mean to go beyond we didn’t know you were two and the exorcism _definitely_ wasn’t my idea but we need the money and this is our job and we couldn’t let the killing continue but I prefer to help you instead.

Shiro blinked at how much Hunk had said in only one breath.

“ _Exorcism?_ ”

\- Not my idea. I’m pretty sure we can come up with some arrangement.

Keith shuddered.

“ _You don’t know what we have been through_.”

At least this time the sound was in sync with his lips, making it less disconcerting.

Shiro sighed.

“ _What Keith means is that we don’t exactly know how to help him pass. He’s not…_ ” he looked at his lover’s head for one moment before continuing. His eyes were hard and he clenched his jaw, frowning his lips in a distressed line “ _He’s not in his best condition._ ”

That really made Hunk feel guilty to have ever consider an exorcism. He slowly nodded, swallowing hard in order to continue the questions.

\- What happened to you guys?

Shiro rolled his eyes.

“ _As if you even want to know._ ”

\- I do, I swear! That’s why we’re here. – Hunk sighed – I’m sorry that we scared Keith. That wasn’t our intention.

Shiro narrowed his eyes.

“ _And the guns?_ ”

\- Just in case. We’d dealt with many Angry Spirits in the past. Without the ghostbusters, we’d be dead by now. And they are just annoying. They wouldn’t hurt you.

Shiro said nothing.

\- They were just to stun, I swear.

“ _And the exorcism?_ ”

\- Just as the last resource in the last case scenario. We avoid that like the plague.

He held his breath while Shiro studied him with narrowed eyes.

Keith stared at him too. He wasn’t crying now, but there was no way of knowing what was going on through his head. However, he still seemed to be on Hunk’s side, for he kissed Shiro’s cheek again.

Finally, Shiro sighed and relaxed. He held Keith tenderly and caressed his arm. Keith closed his eyes and leaned onto the affection.

Hunk breathed in relief before asking:

\- What happened to you? Why were you here?

Keith hummed cheerfully. He sang quietly some cheeky song from the sixties.

“ _I don't know what it is that makes me love you so. I only know I never want to let you go. 'Cause you started something, can't you see, That ever since we met you've had a hold on me. I happens to be true, I only want to be with you_.”

For one fleeting moment, Keith smiled. His blue eyes were still hollow, but it was possible for Hunk to see the resemblance between Keith and the drawing on the shrine.

But if Keith was the Calm Spirit, why was the shrine dedicated to him, not to Shiro?

Shiro chuckled and kissed Keith on the lips gently, just a quick peck. Then, as if he remembered that they weren’t the only ones in the room, he raised his head towards Hunk in challenge. As if expecting him to say something belittling them.

\- Dude, it’s ok. – he assured him – Things had changed. It’s ok if you two are a couple.

He seemed wary, but Keith hummed again and that made Shiro relax.

“ _You should’ve met him before… all that_ …” he sighed “ _He was one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever known_ ”.

He absentmindedly caressed Keith with his thumb. Keith sighed into the tender touch.

“ _Life wasn’t easy for him. He didn’t know his mom… she had left him long time ago. And his dad died due to war injuries.”_

\- _The_ World War 2?

“ _Yes, that. But even with all that, Keith was… amazing. He had a passion inside of him that made life feel more real. Being with him made me feel at peace and motivated to change the world at the same time. He made me feel like a better man and a better person. I could lose myself in his eyes for hours, like flying in the sky._ ”

Keith grumbled something unintelligible before turning to Hunk with a tiny smile.

“ _Takashi’s great_.”

Maybe that was his way to gush about his boyfriend. Even with all his limitations there was still affection for Shiro.

Shiro chuckled and kissed the top of Keith’s head before continuing.

“ _We met at the fall, on 1963. My dad was a cop and Keith was far too many times on his precinct_.”

\- Why was he there?

“ _What do you think?_ ”

Hunk blushed.

\- Arson?

Shiro laughed. Keith seemed annoyed and pouted, hugging Mr. Red tighter.

“ _I admit that he was a little too fond of campfires when we were camping and too fond of Molotov cocktails, but it was for protesting_.”

\- Protesting? Against what?

Shiro rolled his eyes.

“ _The war. Isn’t it obvious?_ ”

\- Oh! The Vietnam War!

“ _Correct. I guess I fell in love with this fiery wonder boy and his quick sarcasm and big heart_.”

Keith’s expression was weirdly blank, as if he was lost in another dimension. Shiro kissed the top of his head again and Keith just sighed.

“ _64… The best year of my life. We used to go camping in the woods to stargaze together and swim naked in the lake_ …”

He looked lost in his own memories. Keith’s head was still in another dimension.

It was a sudden surprise when Hunk realized that they were younger than what he had imagined. Keith seemed older because he was too malnourished and bangled up, while Shiro had his scar and white hair. Hunk remembered how young Keith looked on the drawing, and Shiro had looked younger too when he was keeping the illusion that he was alive.

\- How old were you? – he asked softly, out of curiosity.

Shiro sighed again.

“ _I was 20. Keith was 19_.”

Damn… they were even younger than what Hunk was on that moment. He was only four years older than Shiro. Something seemed very wrong with having two people so young being ghosts.

\- What happened then?

Shiro looked away, as if it was something very painful to think about. Keith was still oblivious to the conversation.

“ _We made plans. We would gather enough money and elope to San Francisco. Find an apartment and_ …” he chuckled “ _Well, just live together. We didn’t always agree on politics but I just couldn’t live without him anymore_.”

His expression fell.

“ _My father, the police captain, found out about our plans… He gave me an ultimatum: either I enlisted to fight the war or he would out me and send me to an insane asylum_.”

He looked at Hunk again.

“ _I was weak… Instead of fighting my father and the rest of people for the man I love, I chose to go to war_ …”

He looked away once more. He flexed his metal fingers.

“ _War is a cruel mistress_.”

He stayed in silence, and Shiro didn’t look like he would break it so soon.

Thus, Hunk turned to Keith and gently asked.

\- And what happened to you, Keith?

That definitely made Shiro glare back at him and a cold shiver run down his spine again.

Shit!

That was not good.

Keith seemed to focus back on their reality and he stared at Hunk with his hollow sunken blue eyes.

“ _Don’t hold it against us._ ”

Oddly enough, that made Hunk remember of another case they took a few years ago, of an old lady that had passed away but her spirit stayed haunting her family. More specifically, her grandson, a twelve years old with autism. Hunk had no idea if Keith had it (could autistic people understand sarcasm? Man… he _really_ needed to update himself on that), but maybe he should use the same idea he did on that time since he was repeating the same thing over and over again.

Most people had ignored what the autistic kid had to say since he repeated a lot of things, so they would get annoyed and overlook things. Hunk thought that it was all a matter of listening to him and responding accordingly. Of course, it wasn’t always easy to now the right question to make next, but he had had enough patience to talk to the kid and sort things out so his grandma could rest in peace.

\- Hold what, Keith?

“ _Don’t hold it against us._ ”

\- Ok, I won’t.

That made Keith blink, which was maybe one of the few emotional responses he had shown until that moment. He didn’t repeated the sentence, though.

Progress.

…Probably…

\- What happened after the ultimatum, Keith?

“ _302.0._ ”

\- I'm sorry, what?

“ _302.0_.”

Great, another barrier.

\- Is that the number of your cell, Keith?

“ _302.0_.”

\- Is that a code?

Keith nodded. Hunk smiled.

\- Code for what, Keith?

“ _Don't hold it against us_.”

Hunk smiled while screaming in frustration internally.

In normal conditions, he would be patient and calm with Keith. However, under the careful watch of a murderous boyfriend, Hunk felt almost compelled to have something to shield himself behind. Any new info.

Anything to hold Shiro's murderous intent.

Keith blinked at him, his eyes still hollow and lost.

“ _You have weird eyes_.”

This made Shiro narrow his own eyes, studying Hunk. The room got one degree colder.

Hunk was cold sweating.

Oh, god.

Oh, god!

This was bad. So fucking bad!

Shiro hummed.

“ _Yeah, he does, baby… what the hell is that?_ ”

Hunk didn't see him move.

In one moment Keith was on Shiro's lap…

… in the next he was crouched right in front of Hunk, invading his personal space.

It was unnatural and startled Hunk. He sulked a breath and tried to put some distance, feeling his heart beating fast in fear.

“ _Don't hold it against us_.”

He touched Hunk’s face with both his hands, just with his fingertips.

Hunk barely had time to think “Fuck!” before he was invaded by memories.

Another perk of the third eye sight was that the direct contact of his skin and a spirit had the potential to make Hunk see some of their memories. Most spirits didn't know about it. The few that knew were pretty nasty, since they could show Hunk about their worst moments. It was good for the paranormal investigation, but he still hated it.

With Keith it wasn't any different.

Thus, Hunk was invaded with memories through Keith's eyes.

 

_The beginning was the most coherent part._

_The first memory was Keith handcuffed and sitting near a desk in what looked like to be a police precinct. Many other people on the protest against the war were there too (Keith, Rolo and Nima had been mocking the police in the back of the officer car). The officer that arrested him would come to register him very soon. He was smiling sardonically at the deputy’s son, no other than Shiro himself. Shiro seemed even younger than what he was at the time of his death. He couldn't be older than 18 (maybe even younger). He wore a school jersey jacket and he still was carrying his school bag. It was funny how, even if he was acting confident and almost nonchalant, Keith's heart was beating fast and he felt like smiling. “Did you lost something on my face, Shirogane?” he asked with irony. Shiro blushed and looked away frowning. “Screw you, Kogane.” Keith laughed and grinned (he was worried if his hands were sweating and if he was being too much of a jerk). “My, my, Shiro. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” Shiro blushed harder, picking his things and walking away hurriedly. Keith sighed. He hated to see him leave, but he loved to see him go._

_The second memory was kinda sweet. Keith had been trying to rile Shiro up that day. The classical “boys pulling girls’ pigtails” or whatever. However, this time Shiro seemed to be really upset when he exited the locker room. Keith had been smoking nearby and saw it. He followed Shiro, asking what was wrong. They ended up shouting at each other behind the bleachers. Things were a little blurred to Keith. He couldn't remember what they were screaming at each other. All what mattered to Keith was that Shiro grabbed his t-shirt. Keith really thought that he was going to punch him on the face. However, suddenly Shiro was kissing him. Keith was astonished for only one second before he started kissing Shiro back with reckless abandon. How cliché it was to make out with the football captain behind the bleachers. Cliché, but Keith couldn't think of anything better._

_The next was Keith being arrested again. Sergeant Shirogane, Shiro’s dad, was the one protocoling his arrest. Keith had already been called a “faggot” and other shit like that five time in less than 10 minutes. He took no pleasure on knowing that he had kissed the sergeant’s son. It was pretty ironic, but Keith was still pissed with him._

_That changed for a brand new memory, one of their first time camping in the forest alone. Keith had driven them there in his motorcycle and all what he could think of was Shiro’s strong and muscular arms around him the whole time. He knew a place: a small shack in the middle of nowhere and near a lake. It was all worth just to see Shiro’s impressed expression. Keith grinned. “Soooo…?”. Shiro laughed. “Ok, it’s a great place, just like you said. But you could have told me to bring my swim clothes”. Keith grin became larger as he started to take off his clothes “You don’t need them to jump in the lake”. Shiro was blushing. “Gosh… you’re such a perv”. Keith laughed while taking off his pants. Unpacking could wait. He was dying to dive into the lake. “Scared, Shirogane?”. While Shiro was fumbling to take of his own clothes, Keith laughed and completely naked jumped into the water._

_The next was during winter break of 64, January. They were again at their shack. Shiro… Takashi was playing the guitar near the window only on his boxes. It was warm in the room after Keith had lighted up the fireplace (they had exchanged gifts earlier that day, and Keith had used his brand new ziplock lighter to light up the fire. It was very cool and it had his name on it). The only light came from the fire, and it illuminated Takashi’s face, making him look godly, out of this world beautiful. He was playing a merry melody with a soft smile in his face. Keith was warm and content, wearing only his underwear and Shiro’s jersey while smoking near the fireplace. Maybe that warm atmosphere was the reason why Keith blurted “I love you” out of the blue. Takashi stopped playing and looked at Keith with wide eyes. Keith blushed and looked at his hands, dreading a rejection (his life had already had too many of them). However, Takashi stood and walked towards him. He gently lifted his chin and kissed Keith’s lips. Keith’s eyes closed into the kiss almost automatically. “I love you too” Takashi said with a smile that Keith felt, but didn’t see. They started kissing and the memory cut when Takashi started pulling the jersey out of Keith’s shoulders._

_The next memory was of Keith holding Takashi’s hand while they were at night in the cemetery during Spring. Takashi was pale and his hand trembled. He seemed to be talking to the air in front of him. Something about a rosary. Then he turned to Keith. “You won’t like it”. Keith cringed. “I agreed to help you with another ghost lady. I’m not going to pussy out now”. Takashi hummed “Huh… don’t call her that, she doesn’t like it”. Keith laughed. “Apologizes, my bad”. Takashi smiled relaxed. “Forgive my partner, Mrs. Gonzales. He’s an asshole”. Keith showed his tongue to him._

_The next was at school. Shiro was organizing a charitable event, a festival of arts. He and other people wanted to gather more funds to send to their troops in Vietnam. Keith didn't agree with that. In his option, the war was a disgusting thing. That was something they could never agree on: Keith was against the war while Shiro supported the war. Keith would help if he agreed, but they needed to keep their distance from each other at school. It simply was to risky for them to be together. However, Keith couldn’t help himself but admire the enthusiasm and goodness in Takashi from afar. He was an All American Golden Boy in every aspect of it, and Keith loved him so much…_

_Now that part of the story wasn’t that happy, for the next memory was of Keith leaving their shack slamming the door and feeling as if his heart was breaking into a million pieces. “Keith!” Takashi shouted, coming after him. The sound of the damn dog tags seemed loud, like a bull’s belt on Shiro’s neck. Keith didn’t stop, and kept walking towards the woods. “Keith, please!” he grabbed his arm “I didn’t have a choice!”. Keith turned around with anger “You could have lied! You could have ran away!”. Although he screamed that, he knew that Takashi was incapable of lying or being untrue. “Damn, Shiro! We had everything already figured out! I had already bought our tickets to California! Now I don’t even know if you’ll be alive by Christmas!”. Keith didn’t want to cry, but his eyes were already filling with tears. Takashi wasn’t much better than him, for he was already crying. “I’m sorry, babe. I just… I did it to protect us! I don’t know how he found out, but my father threatened to come after you and me if I didn’t enlist!”. Ah… Good ol’ Sergeant (now Captain) Shirogane… As always, a controlling son of a bitch. Takashi continued “I had no choice… I had to protect you… I had to…” he sobbed. Keith sniffed. “But now…” he touched the damned dog tags “I lost you”. Takashi shook his head and cleaned his eyes. “No, you won’t”. He took off only one of the dog tags, kissed it and gave it to Keith. “I swear on my soul, Keith Kogane, that’ll come back to you”. He was so earnest, so sincere… Keith was crying when he picked the other dog tag, the one that was still on Takashi’s neck and kissed it. “I’m gonna kick your ass if you don’t”. They both laughed and cried in each other’s arms._

_That wasn’t the last Keith heard or saw of Captain Shirogane. The next memory was from only one week after Shiro had departed, on the beginning of 64’s Winter. Keith was going to California after New Years, to San Francisco. He would find them an apartment for when Takashi come back (he would write his beloved once he was properly set). It didn’t matter that he was only barely an adult: nobody other than Takashi would notice his absence. However, that night, Captain Shirogane sent some police officers after him. “You are under arrest for homosexual vulgarity” the captain said with a sardonic smile, pulling the chain with Takashi’s dog tag from Keith’s neck saying “A faggot like you don’t deserve this”. That was when Keith knew that it all had been a plan. They had been played, and there was nothing he could do to tell that to Takashi._

_As his next memories showed, Keith wasn’t sentenced to a prison, but to an asylum. His diagnosis? Section 302.0: Sexual deviation with homosexual tendencies._

_It was all a blur. Trauma had scrambled those memories into an amalgamation of pain and terror._

_Through Keith’s eyes, Hunk experienced being kept for days in a straightjacket, the side effects of way too many drugs in his body, being kept locked in a freezing bath until his fingers were turning blue then thrown into a sauna just so he would start convulsing. There was also the constant loneliness and mockery that didn’t seem that would stop anytime soon._

_All that confusion was followed closed by his doctor, none other than doctor Haggar. She was always there with a cruel smile, always thinking of new “treatments” to “cure” him._

_The torture reached its lowest when Keith was strapped to a gurney and taken to the surgery room. The last thing Keith remembered before being sedated was someone shaving his hair…_

_After that…_

_After that he was in a different set of existence._

_There was a scar behind his ear._

_Something had been taken from Keith. A piece of his mind. (Maybe even a part of his soul). Keith had enough conscience to know that he was utterly and completely broken. However, he had a great difficult to pinpoint what it was. People were screaming at him constantly. For him to react and follow orders. They were too complex for him to understand. Dr. Haggar wasn’t happy. It always hurt when she wasn’t happy. She would hold the electricity on the sides of his head and it hurts. There was no way out._

_Thus Keith just… Gave up._

_He just stopped thinking._

_At all._

_His memories were a big nothing. They were there and Hunk could see them, but they were also blank and empty of everything._

_There was a man in front of him at some point. He had a scar over his face, hair prematurely white and a prosthetic right hand. He was crying and calling Keith’s name, but the man was as blank as the rest of the world._

_Until…_

_The dog tag…_

_Keith used to have the pair of it._

_“...Takashi…?”_

_Takashi embraced him. Keith missed those hugs..._

_The next time he saw Takashi, he was crying again. “The doctor is your legal guardian. As if you were a fucking child!” he held Keith’s face in between his hands “I don’t know what to do! I don't know how to take you out of here… I’m sorry, babe… I’m sorry!”. Keith did the only thing he could think of to try to cheer Takashi up: he tried to sing._

_The last memory was of them locked on the procedures room, the same room where Keith suffered from the electroshock far too many times. Takashi had shot some people and now they were trapped. He had already thrown the gun on the dirty laundry dumper, but people had seen his face. People would hurt Takashi just like they did to Keith if they were caught. The room was dark as always, always making a shiver run down Keith’s spine. There was only one door out, and Shiro had just barricaded it. There were no windows there and Keith was almost sure they couldn’t escape through windows on that floor. Takashi was frantically looking everywhere at all instruments, all the machines and evil devices, trying to find a way out. However, his brown eyes had nothing but despair on them. They were doomed. Keith could barely have any thought to help, no matter for how long he had been there. He cried while thinking of the only solution he could imagine to save them both. He put his hand on his Takashi’s pocket and picked up his old lighter from there (one of the few of Keith’s possessions that Takashi had retrieved). He lighted it up, watching the fire dance in front of his eyes before looking at his lover. Takashi understood. He nodded with a sad smile. “I love you, Keith. No matter what”._

 

Keith took his hands away from Hunk’s face.

Only now Hunk realized that he was cold sweating and trembling with panic. Those were some of the worst memories he had ever experienced.

Keith blinked his empty blue eyes.

“ _He’s like you, ‘Kashi_.”

As fast as he had invaded Hunk’s personal space, he was now back to Shiro’s lap, whispering in his ear once again.

Shiro hummed.

“ _You can see spirits_ ”, it wasn’t a question.

Hunk hemmed, trying to get a grip over himself after all those memories.

\- So did you.

Shiro nodded.

“ _Yes. It was an ability that I tried to suppress for a great part of my life. Keith was the one who encouraged me to use it to help the spirits around us._ ”

\- Is that the reason why you’re so powerful now?

The ghost shrugged.

“ _I guess. After I died, my_ abilities _changed. I’d never met someone like me that had become a spirit to test that theory._ ”

\- And do you know why you’re still here? Maybe I can help both of you.

Hunk couldn’t help but feel sorry for both of them.

They weren’t bad people, but the circumstances made them do terrible things. Even the murders that Shiro committed after their death seemed to have one single purpose: to protect Keith. They were probably both scared and reacting on instinct and not reason. The world had punched down on them too much and they had no ways to know who was an ally and who was a foe.

Shiro sighed.

“ _I know exactly why I’m still here. I can’t leave Keith behind. I have already left him once, and look what good that caused us_.”

Hunk nodded.

\- Ok, what about you, Keith?

Keith looked at him dead in the eye.

“ _I’m gonna kick your ass if you don’t_.”

“ _I doubt you’ll get an answer_ ” Shiro said with sadness. “ _I’ve tried for years to try to understand what he meant with that, but I couldn’t_.”

However, Hunk understood.

Keith had just shared some of his memories with him.

He had heard that sentence before.

\- But I do! - he smiled - He just showed me! Is it the dog tag, isn’t it Keith?

Keith smiled at Hunk and hummed pleased.

Shiro let out a big grin.

“ _Is that is, babe? You just want the dog tag?_ ”

Keith kissed his cheek.

“ _But baby, I’m here with you! You can have mine!_ ”

Hunk shook his head.

\- That’s not how this works. Trust me, I’ve been doing this since I was, like, ten and something and grandma told me to go with her.

Shiro blinked.

“ _Oh_.”

\- Yeah, he’s not the first spouse that I met that stayed behind because they lost something important from their significant other.

Shiro blushed at his words. If Hunk had to guess, he’d say that nobody had ever said that they were each other’s spouse. Keith only smiled like a pleased cat with weird eyes.

Shiro hemmed to try to hide his embarrassment.

“ _And how do you plan to find it? It could be long gone._ ”

Hunk smiled gently.

\- Leave that to me, ok? I’ll figure something out.

“ _You will just bring a copy._ ” Shiro accused him unimpressed.

\- Oh, no, man. Keith will know if I bring a copy. I’m gonna find the original. Can you just… huh… not kill anyone until I find it? I swear that I’ll do my best.

The ghost pondered that for a moment before giving Hunk a genuinely friendly smile.

“ _Ok. I believe in you. Just don’t bring those guns again._ ”

\- Deal!

He kept his smile in his face while they both stood up (the normal way, thankfully. Hunk was already tired of the ghost bullshit).

“ _Your friends in fact called the emergency._ ” he informed “ _They’ll probably be here in a few minutes. That’s our cue to leave_.”

\- Ok, I promise I’ll do my best to help you guys.

The couple walked towards a wall. However, before they crossed it, Shiro turned once again to Hunk.

“ _Oh, one last thing: tell Lotor that the next time he sends someone with guns that can harm Keith in any way, even if a minor injury, I’m gonna hunt him down and do the same thing I did to his mother. Except that I’m not gonna give him a merciful death in the end._ ”

He didn’t seem to be joking.

The couple disappeared just as Hunk heard his friends calling him in the distance.

The only proofs that the spirits had ever been there were Mr. Red that was sitting peacefully on the floor in front of Hunk and all the doubts Hunk had after Shiro had mentioned Lotor.

He didn’t have many clues on how to start looking for the dog tag.

Oh, but he _surely_ wanted to have a word with his current employer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making off of this chapter:
> 
> Now I have a little bit more to talk about hahaha xD
> 
> First of all, I always had a problem with Insane Asylum stories because they always try to put the patients as the villains. However, if anything, they are the first victims.  
> Trust me: the doctors are the true villains. They think they are superior from the patients because they are "normal". It's not uncommon to have a doctor mistreat or disregard a patient because of that, even nowadays. Of course, it's not as dramatic as a few years ago, but it's still a thing. 
> 
> There's also other thing that I don't usually like about Insane Asylum stories: they never talk about how the concept of insanity changes and is influencied by prejudice.  
> The code for Keith's dyagnosis, for example, was taken straight out of the DSM 2: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders second edition, the edition that was being used on the 60's.  
> 302.0 was the code for homosexuality.  
> Yes, just like that, it was considered a disease.  
> Which is disgusting.  
> Nowadays the DSM is on the 5th edition, and homosexuality was taken out of it. However, there are still A LOT of bullshit like that there
> 
> Anyways, I really like the historical references that I could use *-*  
> Some consequences of the WW2, the Vietnam War, the Anti-War protests, the messed up situation with mental institutions... I just love history <3
> 
> It's officially Saturday on my timezone. Very early Saturday (1 am), but I really would love some pick me ups in form of support of any kind ;3;
> 
> Next chapter on next Saturday! =D
> 
> But hey! Do you want to know how to read the next chapter before next Saturday? Or, do you want to know how to support the writer?  
>  **[[Click here]](http://wonderland-s-angel.tumblr.com/post/172207915641/updates-every-saturday-do-you-want-to-read)**
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you have enjoyed the story so far! Leave a kudo and a comment if you liked!
> 
> I'm on tumblr if you want to find me, [@wonderland-s-angel](http://wonderland-s-angel.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> Comments help me to get going, you know. Like, SERIOUSLY, they keep me going. I feed on them and I'm always hungry. And there's the magical button if you want to help even more ;D
> 
> 'till next week!  
> bye-bye o/


	3. Lotor's story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimer: English is not my first language, so there is just one peculiarity before you start reading:  
> \- [Text after dashes] = TALKING (A Romance Language custom)  
> "[Text between quotation marks]" = THINKING  
>  _Text in italic_ = QUOTES OR MEMORIES  
>  " _Text in italic between quotation marks_ " = SPIRITS TALKING
> 
> Now, to the story!

Hunk briefed his friends on their way to the hospital and while they were waiting for the doctor.

The hospital wanted to run some more exams on Hunk (to make sure he was all right), but he refused. Two reasons for that:

Number one, he probably didn’t have the money to afford a full check-up. They weren’t swimming on money with their business, no matter how good they were.

The most important reason, however, was number two: Hunk was deadly set on finding Lotor immediately.

The motherfucker had _lied_ to them.

He _knew_ the ghosts. Hunk didn’t know if he could also talk to spirits or if it was something else, but fact was that Lotor knew more than what he had told the team.

Hunk was furious.

Near-death experiences made him feel that way.

He usually had a clear rule for the Holt siblings: no hacking. They would work using only legal means.

That night he was so pissed that he allowed them to try to hack into Lotor, to try to locate him immediately.

They were all in their HQ, sitting together on the backstage.

Their HQ was pretty modest. Lance was the one that insisted for them to have one, since not all clients were dirty rich to have them going to their fancy offices. It was a rented place on the third floor of a commercial building. Lance decorated their reception room and “Hunk’s office”, so they could have some good places to meet their clients. They stayed more time on the backstage (as they called it), though, either making research or improving their gear. That part was cozier and not fancy at all, but they like it that way. At first, it was an expensive thing to decorate their client area, but it was money well spent,

Surprisingly, it was Lance who found Lotor’s location first.

Lace had been fooling around on his phone for a while. Suddenly he smiled and raised his head to look at the others.

\- Dudes! I found him on Instagram!

Pidge and Matt didn’t even raised their eyes from their laptops and kept typing. Pidge at least hummed in acknowledge.

Hunk was unable to walk around as he wanted due to the cast, and he had already baked a batch of cookies already. Thus, he was just tapping his finger on his arm impatiently while looking at his teammates. He was sitting on the sofa with his leg stretched. Lance was on the comfy armchair and the Holt siblings were using the table.

\- I doubt that looking at his fancy travel photos will help us, Lance. - Hunk said with an annoyed pout.

That didn’t seem to stop Lance, for he smiled and raised his phone.

\- But what about pictures of him at an art gallery on this moment?

That made the other three look at him with surprise. Lance grinned.

\- Draco Malfoy wannabe might be rich, but he still is on social media.

Hunk smirked.

\- Cool. Thanks, man!

\- No problem!

Hunk was already grabbing his crutches.

He was going to confront Lotor that night.

The Altea Art Gallery was a modern building, a mixture of contemporary clean minimalist style with classic Greco-Roman architecture. It had many open art shows, free to the public, exhibiting pieces from young artists or some of the art pieces from private collections. Senator Alfor Altea Prince the Third, president of the Altea Foundation, created the gallery a few years before his first election.

It was an odd place for Lotor to be, since the deceased Governor Zarkon Daibazaal and Senator Alfor Prince were constant enemies in politics. The Daibazaal and Altea families usually didn’t mingle on the event they hosted, only on events by third parties. Even after the Governor term and the Senator retirement, the grudge between families stuck.

Or so was what Lance told them during the ride to the gallery.

In a weird way, it made sense to Lotor to be there, considering what they had gathered from him before accepting the job. Hunk usually didn’t bother with investigating their employers too much. The important part on their job was to assure the spirits make a safe passage to the afterlife, not to pry other people’s life. Thus, they only do that when was extremely necessary.

Prior to tonight, all the info they had on Lotor was that he was a top-dog lawyer, son of Governor Zarkon Daibazaal and Dr. Honerva Haggar. He always seemed to be the black sheep of the family, refusing to engage on politics and ending a very long tradition on the Daibazaal clan. He inherited all his father’s properties and business after Zarkon’s death six months ago. Since then, he had been selling or changing them.

That had been enough info for the team.

Until tonight, of course.

Tonight, after the near death experience, Hunk was too worked up to care for his usual rules.

He hated when a client lied or omitted sensitive information from them. He would usually just grumble annoyed and carry on, however, dealing with those two spirits, especially with Shiro, had made Hunk terrified.

He had never met someone with the third eye that had become a ghost.

Shiro’s powers seemed to be far superior from any spirit they had met before. That alone was already scary as hell, but there was also the fact that Hunk had now seen he wasn’t immune to become a ghost (as he had previously thought).

That was petrifying.

Lotor had withhold information, so now Hunk would get that information. Even if they were fired, he would make damn sure to get at the bottom of it. Because, if Lotor had hid the fact that he had talked with Shiro, what else was he hiding?

He could have Keith’s dog tag all that time.

Hunk _had_ to know.

That was how and why the team ended up on the hall of the fancy art gallery. All of them looked pissed. Hunk was by far the one with the most impressive glare.

A doorman tried to stop them.

\- I’m sorry, but tonight’s event is private.

They could see people in fancy clothes mingling on the exposition through the open glass doors. They could even spot Lotor chatting with a group of people.

Hunk glared at the doorman.

\- I don’t care. I have to talk with Mr. Daibazaal.

\- That won’t be possible.

\- We’re not taking a no for an answer. - Pidge said, looking up at the doorman.

\- Ma’am, please-

\- Let us in, right now! - Matt joined his sister.

With his peripheral vision, Hunk saw some security guard walking on their direction. Usually, he would try to reason with his friends, to find a peaceful solution.

Not tonight.

\- We’re not going anywhere until we talk with him!

The securities seemed that would take them out on that moment.

However, some people had noticed the commotion on the entrance hall and were watching. Lotor was one of them.

He walked in fast steps towards them and entered the hall.

\- Is everything alright here? - he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lotor was wearing a black tuxedo and had his long platinum hair in a ponytail. He had a glass of champagne on his hand. His eyes studied the scene carefully. He focused on Hunk, his casted leg and crutches, for a moment, apparently surprised with that, before looking up at his eyes.

Hunk gritted his teeth.

\- You lying bastard! You knew who’s in that building! You _knew_ about the spirits!

Lotor now had his two eyebrows raised in astonishment. He blinked for a moment before answering.

\- Oh, I see. - he nodded - You met with Shiro and Keith.

The whole team glared at him with anger.

The doorman and the security looked confused.

\- Mr. Daibazaal…?

\- It’s ok. - Lotor said with an unreadable expression - I’ll deal with them.

The security nodded and walked back to their positions. They stayed watching the group warily.

\- You lied to us! - Hunk repeated with venom in his voice.

Lotor kept his poker expression, but raised one eyebrow in amusement.

\- I gave you all the information you needed to know.

\- Bullshit! - Pidge said aloud - That’s bullshit and you know it!

\- Hunk almost died because you lied to us! - Lance added with anger.

\- We want answers! - Hunk shouted.

Lotor was about to reply when a woman entered the hall coming from the gallery.

\- What’s going on, Lotor?

If there was one word that could describe her was “stunning”. She had dark skin, light hair and amazing blue eyes. She wore an elegant black dress with details in silver. It left her shoulders and back exposed. Her hair was artfully arranged in a stylish bun. She also had a glass of champagne on her hand.

Lotor smiled at her. His expression and posture softened.

\- Nothing, Allura. We just had a misunderstanding.

\- “Misunderstanding” my ass. - Hunk rebutted with anger in his voice - He didn’t said a damn thing that he knows the two spirits that are haunting one of his properties!

Allura at first seemed surprised with Hunk outburst. However, then she grinned like a pleased cat.

\- Ooooh, you talked with Keith and Shiro!

That only made the team get even more pissed off with their employer.

\- Does anyone else _beside us_ knew about the two goddamned spirits?!

That made Allura’s expression fall. She turned to Lotor and slapped his arm.

\- You didn’t tell them about the couple!

Lotor looked vexed and blushed.

\- I didn’t think it would be necessary!

\- Lotor, this is why people don’t trust you! - she said exasperated.

Lotor only pouted and made an undignified sound.

Hunk groaned.

\- Can anyone tell us what the fuck is going on!?

Allura and Lotor looked between each other. She had an unamused curl on her lips. He sighed.

\- Alright, alright. If you folks follow me to my office, I can explain the details.

Allura beamed.

\- I’m gonna grab my coat.

\- ‘llura, it’s your exposition. You can’t just leave!

The doorman was already bringing her coat. She put it on (covering her exposed back) before turning to him with a smug smile.

\- Watch me.

He laughed while following her.

Lance and Matt leaped immediately at the opportunity to talk with the beautiful woman.

\- You ride with me in the car. - Lance said with a flirty smile.

\- Or with me. - Matt elbowed Lance while trying to get her attention - There’s plenty of room.

She gave them an awkward smile.

\- Sorry, boys. I already have a ride.

Lotor offered his arm for her and she happily accepted, following him to his dark gray sports car.

Both Lance and Matt were pouting.

\- Can the two of you keep it in your pants! - Pidge scolded them - Just once!?

Even with that, they complained about how life was unfair the whole ride, much to her chagrin.

They arrived at the skyscraper where Lotor had his office soon enough. Lotor had taken off his suit and bow tie, leaving his shirt’s collar unbuttoned. He was now rolling his sleeves to his elbows. Allura was wearing his suit jacket instead of her coat and she had taken off her high heels. She was wearing a pair of pink flip-flops that fit her feet perfectly.

The night shift doorman of the building let them in without problems.

The elevator ride seemed like it would be awkward. Thankfully, Allura filled in the gap with somewhat pleasant small talk.

\- I don’t think we weren’t formally introduced. I’m Allura Prince.

\- Wait, _the_ Allura Prince? - Matt asked with wide eyes - From the Altea house?

Allura smiled.

\- _The_ future Madam Mayor Allura Prince?

\- Oh, I appreciate the enthusiasm for my campaign, but we’re still months away from the midterm elections.

The team was shocked.

\- How can you be together with _him_!? - Lance asked with a high pitched voice - No offense dude, but your parents were blood sworn enemies!

Lotor chuckled and Allura beamed.

\- It’s a long story, maybe for some other night. But if it’s any consolation for you, my father really disapprove him.

\- Because I’m a punk and a bad influence on her. - Lotor snickered with good humour.

\- Don’t forget the “menace for the law system”, honey. - she chuckled, holding his hand - And the “playboy with a bad attitude”.

He snorted with a fond smile.

Hunk had his eyebrows raised in surprise, but he still was set on his plan.

He wanted answers.

They got to Lotor’s floor. He guided them into the firm. This time, however, they sat on the sofas that he had in one of the conference rooms. He lighted the place with soft lights.

\- Do you want something to drink? - Lotor asked, already opening a bottle of whiskey that was in a coffee table in a corner and pouring some for himself.

\- I want some answers. - Hunk said dryly.

Lotor shrugged.

\- Suit yourself.

\- I’m going to at least prepare a cup of tea for you. - Allura said walking out.

Lotor took a sip of the glass before sighing.

\- For this conversation, I better get some material that I have.

Hunk narrowed his eyes.

\- Fine. As long as you tell the truth this time.

The lawyer nodded.

\- Fair enough. I’ll be right back.

He left the team while he was retrieving whatever he needed.

Pidge and Matt opened their laptops to take notes (or maybe do some quick research if necessary). Lance and Hunk were more old fashioned and usually would take notes by hand. Even if they wanted answers for themselves, they still had a job to do. Tonight, Lance was the only one ready to write anything down by hand. Hunk was still too worked out.

Lotor and Allura came back together, talking with each other and laughing quietly. She was carrying a series of notebooks, journals and photo albums in one arm and a box that seemed full of old files archives on the other, while he was carrying a tray (with a tea-pot, tea cups and his own glass of whisky).

He put the tray on the table, and while Lotor was selecting some of the notes and files, she poured tea for herself and the group. Then they sat together so they could talk with the group.

Hunk was having none of the small pleasantries.

\- Ok, what the fuck are you hiding?

Lotor sighed from his seat.

\- Nothing, really. - he said, moving his hand in a nonchalant way - My involvement with Keith and Shiro is irrelevant for your job.

\- Irrelevant!? I almost _died_ because I didn't know about the killer spirit in the basement!

\- I sincerely apologize for your injuries, and I’ll make sure to pay for any hospital bill, but it didn’t change the fact that he wouldn't kill you. - he answered shrugging - I have a deal with Shiro, and I'm positive that Keith would hold him to it.

\- What the fuck!? That _is_ important!

\- Your knowledge of the deal doesn’t change the results of it.

Allura nudged him with her arm and shoulder.

\- Come on, Lotor. Enough with the lawyer evasive. Play nice.

He grumbled.

\- Ok, fine. - Lotor sighed and took a sip from his glass before looking at them again - As you might know, my father was the owner of the old asylum and my mother was the chief doctor there.

Matt started to type, saving a transcript of the conversation. Pidge was probably recording too.

Hunk nodded.

\- Yes, we know that.

\- Good. Well, my parents weren’t the most… affectionate of people, to put it mildly. - he waited until they all nodded before continuing - I was a troubled kid who loved to do exactly the opposite of what my parents said. Father said “don’t pick your nose during the event”, so picking my nose was exactly what I did, especially during official campaign photos. Mother said “don’t mess with my research” so I used all the paper I could grab of it to make origami or to draw.

He snorted.

\- They said “don’t go to the abandoned building”, so you probably guessed what I did as soon as I had an opportunity. I was 9, maybe 10.

Lotor shrugged.

\- My luck was that I found Keith before I found Shiro, or I would be just one of the casualties associated with the place. It was after dusk, which I believe is one of the best times to spot spirits if one is a non-sensitive?

Hunk nodded.

\- Yeah, that’s right. - he answered dryly.

\- And honestly can’t remember why but my younger self found Keith to be pretty cool. I guess I was a very morbid kid. - he shrugged again - The fact was that I invited him to a game of hide and seek and he agreed with a nod.

The team shared a pained sigh. That wasn’t the first and probably wouldn’t be the last case of a kid who ended up playing with a spirit without knowing the danger they were in. At least in this case the events went well, since Lotor was alive and healthy in front of them.

He continued.

\- We were both having some innocent fun until Shiro showed up. I don’t blame him for his reaction, even if it’s a little exaggerated. I was the kid of their arch nemesis, playing hide and seek with his traumatized boyfriend. It would have been poetic justice for him to kill my parents’ “great project” as they liked to call me, but Keith protected me, and I was able to get out of there unharmed. Scared, yes, but unharmed.

Lance took some notes.

Hunk nodded again.

\- But you went back there.

\- Yes, I went back there.

Allura snorted.

\- He can be pretty stubborn when he has his mind set on something.

Lotor smiled before continuing.

\- I was intrigued. But let’s be honest, which child wouldn’t go talk to real spirits if they have the chance?

Remembering his own first talks with ghosts made Hunk blush. He nodded.

\- Yeah, I get it. What about the deal?

\- Ah, don’t worry, everything at its time. The deal actually has two parts, hence the reason why I’m walking you from the very beginning.

Lotor took another sip from his glass before continuing.

\- Of course that I went back. I was curious and I didn’t have many friends at the time. So, it was nice to have playmate, even if he could only show up for a few hours of the night. - he smiled fondly at the memory - I guess Keith was feeling as lonely as I was. Granted, he has Shiro, but more human contact is always welcome. He never spoke enough to me, since I’m still a non-sensitive and he’s a common spirit, but we still could get by. Shiro at first was wary, but with time he was warming up to me and we could talk like living people. He’s a great big brother figure once you get to know him well, and it was maybe one of the best influences I got growing up.

He sighed.

\- With me going there regularly, we stroke the first part of the deal: no child would be harmed. Ever. They could scare them, and Keith is pretty good at it, but Shiro couldn't kill them.

Matt finished typing and raised his eyes to him.

\- How did you get him to agree with it? I didn't meet Shiro, but he doesn't strike me as a flexible guy.

\- Every person is flexible under the right conditions. - Lotor smirked - Shiro’s soft spot is Keith, and vice-versa if you want to know. If Keith is pleased, he’ll convince Shiro of pretty much anything.

He pointed out to one of the old journals (one which cover was full of Spider-Man stickers) before opening, searching for a page and showing them.

\- I was ten, but father had already taught me not to agree with anything without a contract. So, that was what I did.

With a childish handwriting, there was a few words in the page in the resemblance of a contract. It had a simple premise: Lotor agreed to be there every day and to be friends with Keith, and Shiro agreed not to hurt any other kids. Lotor had sighed with a purple pen. There was an "X" as Keith's signature in red ink and an elegant of "Takashi Shirogane" in black ink.

Yeah, spirits could sometimes sign things (as long as they were solid enough). However, since people rarely were able to talk to them, that usually wasn't an issue the justice had to deal with. Hunk had heard a case or two of ill-intentioned people who fooled the ghosts into signing foul contracts (just because a person had their third eye open doesn't mean that they are angels), but it was far from each other and he didn't pay it much attention.

He guessed that Shiro was an exception.

It was childish, but he guessed that for all purposes, it was a valid document. It was treat as such by its parts.

\- He was always true to his word. - Lotor continued with a chuckle - And Keith is pretty creative with scaring off kids. He usually likes to use illusions of fire and sometimes real fire, just to keep things real. But he had also used a flooded bathroom of blood during halloween of 94. For 12 years old me, that was kinda awesome.

The team documented the paper before Hunk turned to him.

\- What happened after that? Why did the contract changed?

Lotor lost his smile and sighed deeply.

\- Well, my mother happened. - he rolled his eyes - On the late 60’s, society started to push for a deinstitutionalization of mental health patient. There were far too many cases of abuse on the asylums and the medicine started to show that it was terrible for the patients to be locked on said institutions. However, Dr. Haggar still insisted that the asylums were the solution. She decided that it would be a good idea to try to re-open the place. I was fifteen at the time.

He picked another journal, this one looking more like a scrapbook and pushed on their direction.

\- You can find all what I noticed at the time about it here, among with some teenage angsty bullshit.

Allura held his hand gently before he continued.

\- By that time, I was a little too old for hide and seek, but I still visited the couple pretty often. They’re decent people. I was slowly building a shrine to Keith, since that seemed to please both of them. We usually would just fool around. Sometimes I played with Keith for old times’ sake, but it was a little too easy to find him since I bought Mr. Red. I just have to find the room with the red hippopotamus plushie and I'll find the spirit.

He picked a few plans of a building to show them.

\- I found Dr.Haggar's projects for the place, how she wanted to keep doing just the same she was doing in the 60's. Of course, she was clever and knew how to disguise it as real medicine, but I knew better. - he bit his lips.

There was a pause in which Allura squeezed his hand for comfort. Lotor took another deep breath before continuing (without looking the team in the eye).

\- I was a rebellious teenager with far too many means at that time and too little regard for consequences. And I didn't know that Shiro could actually leave the building if he wanted to.

A shiver run down Hunk's spine.

\- You told him about your mother’s plans.

Lotor sighed and nodded.

\- Yeah... I might not had the best relationship with any of my parents, but I'm not a heartless monster. I didn’t want them to die. Especially, not a death like the one Shiro gave my mother. He's... morbidly creative. I'm pretty sure the things he saw on Vietnam contributed to that.

Hunk swallowed a few times the knot that formed in his throat.

Again, not the first nor the last person he had ever met that made the mistake to say something wrong aloud near an Angry Spirit. It could happen whenever a spirit was haunting a loved one. If said loved one said something about other people trying to hurt them, the spirit could take on their own hands to protect the living person, no matter the means. They couldn't blame Lotor for not imagining what could happen.

\- What happened then?

Lotor raised his eyes.

\- Another contract.

He picked a piece of paper that seemed old. The paper was yellow from time passed and the ink seemed to have fainted through the years. Differently from the first contract, that one wasn't protected by a notebook.

It had a similar idea, just it had a more formal construction. Shiro wouldn't kill anyone as long as Lotor visited them frequently and indulged Keith a bit. Lotor had printed it in black ink and sighed with a blue pen. Again, Keith sighed in red and Shiro in black.

\- Why do they only sign with those colours? - Lance asked with a frown.

Lotor shrugged.

\- They said those were their favourite colours. I guess it was nice to grant them that little treat, since they were my friends.

\- It checks with our data. - Pidge said, pushing her glasses up on her nose - The murders stopped 20 years ago.

Lotor nodded.

\- Yeah… as always, Shiro was a man of his word.

He sighed.

\- For a long time I blamed him for my mother’s death. For some time, my visits were purely to avoid more death. I hated it. - he smiled with sadness - If it wasn’t for Keith slapping some sense on me, quite literally since we’re unable to have long conversations for several reasons, I’d probably stop at some point. After a long conversation with Shiro, I blamed myself for what happened.

Even if he was still a little mad for Lotor to have withhold information from them, Hunk couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. Why must Dr. Haggar hurt everyone around her? That was outrageous to say the least.

\- Lotor, you couldn’t have known…

\- It doesn’t matter. - he shrugged nonchalantly and giving the team a smile - It still happened. Shiro was only trying to protect Keith and himself, and after such horrible trauma of people punching down on them, his reaction doesn’t seem illogical. So it was on me. If I knew that or not, it’s irrelevant for the effects of my actions.

Before anyone could console him again, he pushed the file box towards them.

\- That’s why I made it my mission to find a way to help them. I studied all Dr. Haggar’s archives, for every patient and every administrative boring detail. These are the files for the hospital from 1965, the year of the fire, and for patient 117-9875, A.K.A. Keith Kogane. You can have these copies of the files. I have some digital copies on a pendrive that’s with the paper copies. And if there’s other things you want to look at, other patients or other administrative paperwork, the originals are all stored in a personal deposit. I can give you access to them.

Hunk nodded, pulling the box towards them.

\- That’ll be of great use.

Lotor nodded too, before letting out an excited smile.

\- So, how did it go exactly tonight?

\- I still have a few things I want to know first.

\- Oh. Sure. Ask away.

\- Why now? - Hunk questioned crossing his arm - Why not right after the death of your mother?

Lotor sighed very deeply, as if remembering a very tiring situation.

\- My father and the law. That’s why. He still was the official owner of the building, so any operation inside it had to have his approval beforehand. - his lips curled in a snarl - He always vehemently rejected the idea of spirits, always saying that it was just a bunch of bullshit. And we never had a good relationship, so he never agreed with me to call for professionals.

\- That doesn’t mean that he didn’t try. - Allura added with a pleased smile - I heard all the gossip from my father about it.

Lotor only chuckled and Allura continued excitedly.

\- It was already _really_ peculiar that Lotor had attended Voltron University, the one my family promoted, instead of the Imperial Galra University, where every Daibazaal clan member graduates. The same thing with him attending the Coalition Law School. Dad wasn’t thinking much of it at that time, though. It was only after Lotor passed his Bar Exam and got into a legal dispute with his own father that my dad really started to follow the case.

The lawyer was grinning.

\- I entered with the process the very next day after the exam.

She chuckled before continuing.

\- But Zarkon was known for prolonging any litigation against him for literal _years_ , and it wasn’t different in this situation.

\- With all the bad blood between my father and me, I was shocked to find out that I was still his heir after his death. I was imagining that he would have some hunger-games-like ceremony so one of his war dogs would get it all.

Allura elbowed him lightly on the ribs.

\- What? I’m serious, ‘llura! I’m still waiting for them to find a secret will with those instructions to select his official heir!

\- He’s your father.

\- He’s still a major jackass. All the names your dad call me would look like compliments near half of the things I’ve heard him actually say about your family before I moved out.

Allura rolled her eyes, but dropped the subject.

Lotor turned back to the team.

\- As soon as I had ownership of the building, I started researching the best options of help for spirits as possible. I looked into many agencies, but most of them make at least 30 exorcisms on average per year. Yours makes only four. All the source seemed unanimous of your ethical ways of dealing with the deceased, event he wayward ones. That’s why I picked you, if you’re wondering that.

The team looked between themselves.

\- I just have one last question. - Lance said with a frown before dramatically pointing at Allura - How can you know about the spirit couple on the abandoned building? The whole story so far only had only Lotor interact directly with them.

The duo looked to each other with matching mischievous smiles.

\- Well, that for certain was the most unique “meeting the family” dinner I have ever had. - she answered with a chuckle - But probably the most fun of them all. I’ve been following the story ever since and helping whenever I can.

\- I have to thank her for the picture she drew of Keith. - Lotor chuckled - I only know how to draw cats.

Matt finished typing before asking:

\- Why not a picture of Shiro?

Lotor lost his smile and Allura’s became sad.

\- He gets a gloomy when he see his appearance. - Lotor sighed - Either the present appearance or his past one. I’m pretty sure Keith had broken every single mirror of the building for Shiro’s sake. Allura actually had drawn him. Keith burned it almost immediately.

The team looked between themselves and nodded.

\- I think that’s what we needed to know. - Pidge concluded - Everything else we probably will have to dig through the files.

\- I just wished you had told us that sooner. - Hunk said earnestly.

Lotor shrugged again, tossing his hair over his shoulder carelessly.

\- I still think it was irrelevant, but yeah, here’s that. Now, - he smiled - how did it go?

Hunk sighed and told all the events that happened that night with him. He felt a little tempted to hide some things about his conversation with Shiro and Keith (especially involving Keith’s memories), but he decided against it. Just because Lotor had been a jerk about it, doesn’t mean that he had to be one too.

The couple beamed the new revelation.

\- That seems so obvious now! - Allura beamed before turning to Lotor - Do you have it? I bet it was on Keith’s belongings.

Lotor sighed deeply.

\- Unfortunately, no. The dog tag wasn’t on the items listed on Keith’s possessions. Neither in the asylum nor on his home.

\- Have you looked for his records? - Hunk asked with raised eyebrows.

The lawyer nodded.

\- I have, indeed. - he pushed the notebooks and photo album on their direction - These are my personal notes. I tried to catalogue everything I could find on the two of them, trying to find the reason why they were stuck here. I have some copies of Keith’s history on the foster care system and of Shiro’s military records on the box, but maybe the notes might help.

He kept his hand over the cover of the album.

\- I mean, if you agree on finishing the case… - he said with another unreadable expression.

Once again, the team looked among themselves and nodded in agreement.

\- We want to get to the bottom of this. - Pidge said with a smirk.

\- And I think Shiro and Keith deserve to rest at last. - Hunk added with a gentler smile.

The couple smiled.

\- Fantastic! I expect you to inform me of any development on the case, even if it’s a dead end. - Lotor said with a pleased smirk.

\- And I’ll help anyway I can! - Allura beamed.

They talked a little bit more of the current situation, but it was already late and the whole team was tired. Thus, they took all the files and notes Lotor had given them and went back home. Allura agreed to meet with them in their HQ the next morning.

The situation might have had a bad beginning, but Hunk was hopeful that they could give the couple the closure they deserved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making off of this chapter:
> 
> I guess that by now, the terror story effect is going to fade, since the terror effect was a happy accident (I was aiming more for a little bit of thrill before focusing on Hunk's search). I hope you people still like the rest of the story =3
> 
> But at least I can focus a little bit more on Lotor =D  
> I'm using my current headcanon for him: that he _is_ a good guy, but he was raised in terrible conditions and he doesn't know how to properly look like a good guy. He's trying to change, it'll probably take a while, but he'll get there =3  
>  And I had to include Lotura xD just because (I ship them since S3, but with S5 they got even closer <3)
> 
> I'm a little behind my writing (it have been a rough two weeks for me...), so I can't provide the next chapter in advance x_x hopefully I'll have it by next saturday.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you have enjoyed the story so far! Leave a kudo and a comment if you liked!
> 
> I'm on tumblr if you want to find me, [@wonderland-s-angel](http://wonderland-s-angel.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> Comments help me to get going, you know. Like, SERIOUSLY, they keep me going. I feed on them and I'm always hungry. And there's the magical button if you want to help even more ;D
> 
> 'till next week!  
> bye-bye o/


	4. Painful Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimer: English is not my first language, so there is just one peculiarity before you start reading:  
> \- [Text after dashes] = TALKING (A Romance Language custom)  
> "[Text between quotation marks]" = THINKING  
>  _Text in italic_ = QUOTES OR MEMORIES  
>  " _Text in italic between quotation marks_ " = SPIRITS TALKING
> 
> Now, to the story!

The next morning started with a good surprise, which was always a great thing on Hunk’s book.

Lotor sent him a few text messages, telling him in a weirdly formal tone to go to one of the most expensive hospitals in town for a proper check up. His justification was “I’d hate to waste time with a lawsuit in case you’re still injured”. By that time Hunk was starting to understand how Lotor worked, thus he couldn’t help but smile at that weird way to say that he cared.

Hunk usually avoided certain places if he could. After all, spirits tended to linger on certain places, more specifically, the places they died or the places where their remains were put to rest. Cemeteries and hospitals usually were two big no-go places unless extremely necessary. Last night, it was unavoidable since his leg needed immediate attention. Now, in the morning, it was more elective. Thankfully, Lance went with him.

\- That’s what friends are for! - he smiled, like he always did since they were 12 and he held Hunk’s hand during a visit to a sick aunt.

Lucky Hunk that there were no other internal injuries for him to worry and no lost soul noticed his presence (even if an old man spirit stared at him funnily for some tense moments in the waiting room). While they were there, Pidge sent them a few messages to let them know that Allura would be there on lunch time in order to help them with the couple’s case.

That was why Hunk was pleasantly surprised again when Allura showed up on their HQ with bags with food from _Sal’s,_ one of the most famous restaurants in the city. She had her hair cascading behind her and she was wearing a pink blouse, white skirt and comfortable cute shoes. Even relaxed, Allura looked like she had just ran away from a catwalk.

She had a big smile on her face once they were all set on the backstage.

\- Where do we start? - Allura asked.

\- We build a narrative. - Pidge explained showing the program she developed specifically to make a timeline - To map all the locals where the object could be.

\- You know, boring stuff. - Lance said from his spot on the sofa.

He and Matt had had a quiet fight, trying to decide who would sit beside Allura on the couch. She was smarter and rolled her eyes sitting on the armchair. Pidge had giggled at that. Now both boys were moping.

Hunk sighed annoyed at his friends antics and continued from beside Lance on the sofa.

\- It helps to know where Keith had been and when. It’s pretty good that Lotor had kept a record of it.

Allura nodded.

\- Yeah, indeed. I’m familiar with Keith’s case, so how do you guys want to tackle the subject?

\- Divide to conquer. - Matt said smirking.

Here’s how they divided their tasks: Matt and Pidge got to examine the medical records and the records of the Asylum (trying to determine how they would dispose of the inmates personal objects); Lance got Keith’s records before the Asylum (trying to determine if there was anyone who would gather his belongings); Hunk and Allura got Lotor’s journals (trying to find if Shiro mentioned something or if Lotor had discovered something relevant).

They worked efficiently through the afternoon, slowly filling in the timeline.

Hunk couldn’t help but be reminded once again how sad it was for a person to be reduced to paper track: foster care reports, police records and hospital notes. It was always hard to deal with that already, and it seemed even sadder when the person was young like Keith was. Hunk shook his head. He hated how close to death he always was on his job. He couldn’t help but consider his own finitude, especially on that case after having meet Shiro.

Hunk was not above to become a ghost himself, and that thought scared him.

(He really was going to need therapy…)

Allura seemed to notice the gloomy feeling that followed their line of work after a few hours. She frowned.

\- Is it always depressing like this or is this an unusual day?

Pidge scoffed.

\- Welcome to the ghost hunters life, princess. - she said grumpily. The other two were too absorted on their own tasks to answer.

Pidge would always get like that after a few hours. Allura didn’t seem to mind, but Hunk decided to be more polite.

\- Yeah… The job’s usually like that when we can’t solve the situations on the spot… Not as glamorous as the TV make is sounds. At least not if you want to make this right.

She nodded with a smile.

\- I see. That’s why you guys do so little exorcisms.

\- And it’s sad that so many others do so many exorcisms. - Hunk added quietly.

Thanks to all Lotor’s previous research, they were able to pull a timeline by evening.

\- It’s not usually this easy. - Matt told Allura with a grin while they ordered Chinese food - Usually we have to hunt down all this info. It can take awhile sometimes.

Over the food, they started to discuss where the dog tag could be based on the timeline.

\- It’s not with anyone from his past, that’s for sure. - Lance said pointing at the beginning of the line with the chopsticks - He had no alive relatives that could be contacted, no adopted parents, not even a friend as his emergency contact. This is really sad, but there’s no one in mullet boy’s past.

\- And there’s no register whatsoever on his police or asylum records. - Matt added.

Allura swallowed the dumpling in her mouth before saying:

\- Lotor’s notes don’t mention anything. If Shiro ever knew the location of it, he never told.

\- So it’s a dead end? Is it lost forever? - Pidge asked with sadness, putting the food box down.

\- Probably. - Lance said with a sigh - There’s nothing pointing to this dog tag being anywhere.

Hunk hummed.

\- The only thing I can think of is the shack. - the team looked at him with curiosity and hope - The one from his memories.

They nodded.

\- It’s worth a shot.

Allura frowned, though.

\- I don’t think Lotor ever asked Shiro about it. It’s not anywhere in his notes, and I don’t remember him ever mentioning much of it.

\- Shiro himself wasn’t thinking about the medal. - Hunk said, staring at 1964, the “happy year” of Keith’s timeline - Or the shack apparently.

\- Well then! We have to ask him! - Matt said merrily.

Hunk cringed.

\- I was afraid someone would say that… - he mumbled annoyed, even though he knew there was no other way.

At least the team took a few days off from that case. They had other clients to tend to.

It was almost August when they entered the Asylum again.

Usually the twilight hours were the best hours to spot the spirits, since sunlight, their main weakness, was retreating. It also was a “threshold hour”, a time of transition, meaning that it was the right time for spotting the creatures that live in between realms. Even Hunk benefited from the extra powers, like the spirits.

However, Shiro triggered a more primal part of Hunk, one that is tied up to the fear of death. Thus, he prefered to go back there at the worst  possible hour to a spirit: midday.

Not 12 o’clock, mind you, but the solar midday, when the sunlight seemed to be perpendicular to where they were. At that time of the year, it was a few hours after noon.

Their shadows were right under then when the team entered the abandoned building. Allura had some campaign business to tend to, but Pidge was keeping her posted via text messages.

Hunk shrudered.

\- I just have to say that I hate this.

Lance snorted good humored and squeezed Hunk’s hand.

\- You hate this all the time.

Hunk only grumbled annoyed in response. Lance laughed.

\- Come on, big guy! I’ll protect you.

Matt crossed his arms looking around in paranoia.

\- I don’t see how any of us can protect him since we _don’t even have the ghostbusters with us_!

He said the last part in an angry (and scared) hiss.

Hunk sighed.

\- Trust me, we’re safer without them.

Pidge rolled her eyes taking a few steps into the building.

\- Come on, boys! Stop being big bubblebutt babies and let’s get this done!

“I just have to find the room with the red hippopotamus plushie and I'll find the spirit.” Lotor had said. Thus, that’s what the team expect to do. They prefered to start on the ground floor this time, since Hunk was still with his cast and their last visit  was a disaster, with Hunk falling through the ceiling. Pidge had the electromagnetic sensor turned on, in case it could speed up the search just a little..

Lucky for them they find the plushie sitting by a table in the old cafeteria.

The room was a little cold, just a per usual in a spirit presence.

Keith was hugging it and staring at them with empty eyes.

Matt looked over his sister shoulder at the sensor, to make sure they were in the right place.

\- Ok, we found the plushie and the sensor is pointing to an ghost on this room. Now where’s it’s owner?

He obviously wasn’t seeing the ghost.

Keith blinked in a mechanical and weird way.

“ _Clear._ ” Keith said, and Hunk had no idea of what that meant.

\- He’s already here, Matt.

\- Wait, really?

They all looked at the sensor while Hunk walked towards the table where Keith was sitting. Keith didn’t seem to even notice his approach.

\- It seems like it, but I guess I should trust you more than the sensor in this case. - Pidge said, putting down the device and looking at her friend.

“ _Clear._ ” Keith repeated clutching at the hippo.

\- Hey, Keith… - Hunk said in a low soft voice so he wouldn’t get scared - You ok?

“ _Clear!_ ” Keith closed his eyes tightly.

\- I just want to talk with you and Shiro.

“ _Clear!_ ” He started to tremble.

Hunk heard a high pitched noise. If he had to compare it to something, it would be similar to a heart monitor right after the heart had stopped: a long and constant sound that by itself was enough to cause dread. Add to that an even higher key that the normal heart monitors, and you got yourself a replica of what a distressed Calm Spirit sounded like.

As cliché that it might seem, movies about ghosts were right when they used that to describe a Calm Spirit distressed feeling. That high pitched sound was the main reason the spirits were always accused of causing havoc.

Yes, they were the “good” spirits when comparing them to the Angry ones, but that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t be upset and end up doing more aggressive things. It wasn’t a big deal, more smoke than actual fire, but Hunk prefered to keep them calm and relaxed enough for a conversation.

Besides, that noise always gives him and the rest of the team, even if they couldn’t actually hear it, a headache.

He took a step back to his friends.

\- I think it’s best if we come back later…

“ _Clear!_ ” Keith shook, and the table shook with him.

Even the non-sensitive could see that now.

\- Point taken! - Lance said turning slowly, intending to walk away - We’re gonna leave you be.

However, before they could move more, Shiro’s voice stopped them dead on their tracks.

“ _You really picked the worst time of the day possible for a visit._ ”

They all turned to the kitchen entrance. The door had fallen from its hinges years before and still laid on the floor. Shiro was standing there with crossed arms and a pensive expression.

Pidge’s electromagnetic sensor went crazy.

The whole team was agape and rubbing their own eyes to make sure they weren’t hallucinating.

\- What!?

\- Who is he?

\- Is he…?

\- Guys, this is Shiro. Shiro, these are-

“ _I know who they are_ ” the spirit said annoyed and walking toward the group. He sat beside Keith and threw his left arm around him for comfort.

Lance, Matt and Pidge gasped in surprise at the same time. Hunk stared at them in confusion.

\- D-dude! - Lance mumbled scared - The other ghost! I can see the other ghost too!

Shiro rolled his eyes.

“ _One of my abilities, yes. Now what the fuck are you doing here?_ ”

The team was literally hiding behind Hunk, who was finding that amusing.

\- We’re looking into the possible places where the dog tag can be. Our bet is on the old shack, but we need the the location of it.

Shiro frowned.

“ _I don’t believe it’s there at all. It doesn’t look like Keith to leave it behind._ ”

\- Yeah… I believe you on that, but... - he scratched the back of his neck - We’re kinda running low on clues. So, it’d be good to cover all our bases.

Shiro hummed, caressing Keith’s arm gently. Keith was still trembling and looking lost and saying “Clear!” from time to time.

“ _Ok, it sounds reasonable. It’s a very secluded place, so I’ll need a map and a pen to show you the place._ ”

Hunk looked at Pidge. She was still pale and looking from her sensor to Shiro and back. She composed herself enough to pass the tablet to him. Hunk opened google maps and located their original home own on it.

Shiro was frowning in confusion.

“ _What the hell is this thing?_ ”

\- Oh, sorry. It’s a modern device that give us access in a lot of information.

The spirit was still a little freaked out, staring at the screen.

“ _Like an encyclopedia or something?_ ”

\- Not really, but yeah, it’s a good comparison. You can point the location here.

“ _This thing is also a map?_ ” he raised his eyebrows in surprise “ _That seems pretty handy._ ”

\- Technology, am I right?

The ghost shrugged.

Shiro tried to touch the screen tentatively with his metal hand, trying to point out a road. However, it didn’t worked, and it didn’t move. He didn’t know that, though and started to give directions.

“ _You start here on the Thornstorm road-_ ”

\- Wait just a second. - Hunk pulled the tablet back - It didn’t seem to be working.

“ _Was it supposed to make something?_ ”

\- It usually moves when someone puts a thing on it and drag the map.

“ _Maybe it’s because I’m a ghost_.”

\- Could it be. - he hummed - Or maybe it’s because your hand is made of metal. It usually works with only human hands.

“ _Or live hands, Hunk_.”

\- Come on, man. Help me out.

Grumbling annoyed, Shiro detached his left arm from Keith. His right hand immediately held Keith’s hand and squeezed it gently for support. Keith just moved back and forth and said “ _Clear!_ ” quietly.

“ _You start here,_ ” Shiro repeated annoyed. His finger moved the map but he obviously had no idea on how to zoom in or zoom out.

Hunk moved his hand to do that and help Shiro to give the directions.

That was a mistake, but he only realized that when it was too late.

Their fingers touched.

Shiro’s flesh finger in direct contact with Hunk’s skin.

Hunk had only one moment to think “Shit!” before being invaded by a memory.

 

_The fire had spread through the room, and possible through the building. Shiro knew that Keith had mean a suicide plan when he showed him the lighter and he had accepted it initially. However, he..._

_Something reminded Shiro of a very particular moment of the war._

_It reminded him of the night he escaped from the Viet Cong settlement._

_His right hand was gone and he had felt feverish for days. The only reason why he didn’t succumb to the infection was thinking of Keith._

_He remembered the panic he felt during his escape. He put fire to the building. It was made out of wood and hay, so it burned down fast. Then Shiro ran through the forest. Only one thing was on his mind while escaping._

_Keith._

_He promised Keith he would be back for Christmas._

_And Shiro was a man of his word._

_When he came back to the present moment, to that present fire, Keith was limp in his arms. The room was on fire, and they were trapped in a corner unless he did something._

_Shiro gritted his teeth and changed his mind._

_He wasn’t going to let Keith die there._

_No fucking way._

_He held his beloved in his arms._

_\- We’re getting out of here, babe._

_He kicked the makeshift barricade out of his way and kicked the door open. He coughed the smoke out of his lungs and tried to shield himself and his beloved from the flames._

_The corridor could only be described as an inferno._

_There was screams._

_People were trapped._

_But all what mattered to Shiro was to get Keith in a safe place._

_He was unconscious and that wasn’t a good sign. Thus, Shiro stopped on the corridor to try to shake Keith awake._

_\- Keith! Keith, babe! - he shook Keith’s shoulder - Wake up, babe! Wake up, please!_

_He wasn’t thinking straight. Otherwise he would first get out of the building and then try to wake Keith up. However, that didn’t seemed to be an option in the midst of his panic and the smoke intoxication._

_Keith didn’t wake up._

_He didn’t even seem to be breathing._

_Shiro’s eyes were burning, and he was sure it was all the smoke. He wasn’t seeing perfectly. Maybe that was why he wasn’t seeing his lover breathing._

_That could be the only explanation_

_Keith couldn’t…_

_He couldn’t..._

_Shiro swallowed his tears and did his best to hold back from losing it._

_\- Come on, babe! Stay with me!_

_Shiro was still trying to wake his lover up before finally running out of the building when a voice behind him made him stop._

_“_ Takashi _.”_

_Shiro’s blood ran cold._

_Oh, God._

_Please, no._

_No!_

_Not like this…_

_Please…_

_“_ Takashi… _”_

_Shiro turned around with tears running down his eyes._

_Keith’s spirit stood in front of him. He seemed as beat up as before, with the same scar and the damn straight jacket. His eyes were still sad and empty._

_“_ Sorry… _” he said, looking at Shiro in the eye with his his weirdly still stare._

_Shiro sobbed, hugging Keith’s lifeless body tightly._

_Gently, Keith’s spirit used the straight jacket to hide his hand and caressed Shiro’s head. The small gesture (a way to put a barrier between his skin and Shiro’s) made Shiro’s heart beat fast in a bittersweet feeling. Keith sang some cheery song in a sad key._

_Shiro coughed due to the smoke and raised his head to look at his beloved with tears in his eyes. He forced himself to smile._

_\- Sorry… I was too late… I’m sorry… - he coughed - I’ll be with you in a minute._

_He was getting dizzy and tired, but he was positive that it was caused by more than just his sadness and the memories from the war._

_The smoke…_

_The same smoke that took Keith from him would bring them together again._

_“_ No! San Francisco, Shiro! San Francisco! _” Keith pleaded frantically, shaking his lover by his shoulders._

_Shiro understood what he mean._

_He still had a chance to escape._

_However, what would be the point?_

_Keith was who gave his life real meaning._

_Keith was who kept him alive in the midst of war._

_Without him, Shiro was lost._

_\- Not without you, babe…_

_He sighed, his head was spinning_

_\- I’m with you for better, for worse... for richer, for poorer, in sickness… - Shiro sighed again. He was getting out of breath - and in health, and not even death do us part…_

_Keith spirit hugged him tightly. He was crying. He tried to speak, but it sounded like gibberish._

_Shiro was tired, but he was happy._

_They would be together at last!_

_His eyelids were heavy and he didn’t want to fight anymore._

_He slowly closed his eyes…_

 

The next memory was… peculiar.

 

_Hunk was at grandma Ailani’s house. He was sixteen at that time._

_She had been sick for a while now._

_Breast cancer._

_Third time that cancer showed up, actually._

_Grandma had fought against it, always willing to stay a little longer on  Earth. However, the third time seemed to be her last. Even if she did all the treatments available, it was hopeless this time._

_On her final days she chose to be in her little home with her family._

_She was spending some time with each family member._

_Of course, the ones Ailani was closer stayed for longer than the ones that she had little interactions._

_Hunk was on that select group._

_He was sitting beside her, holding her hand._

_She looked so pale and small in her own bed… She had lost a lot of weight and had shaved her head. She was just a shadow of her vibrant self. However, the same serenity that seemed to be the core of her existence was still there while she stared gently at her crying grandson._

_\- Hunk, honey, please don’t be like this… - she sighed - It breaks my heart to see you so sad._

_Hunk hiccuped before answering._

_\- This isn’t fair, grandma!_

_\- Sweetie, we already talked about this before. Everything on this earth has their time…_

_\- But I still need you! - he sniffed - I still have so much to learn…_

_\- Oh, my sweet child… I already taught everything I could about our family’s gift. You’re more than prepared to face any peril ahead of you._

_\- I still need you! - he repeated before sobbing and clenching her hand tightly._

_He was crying like a baby, but he didn’t care._

_Ailani chuckled._

_\- Maybe this’ll be your last lesson… Learning to let someone go… - she sighed and looked at the photo that she had on her nightstand, the picture of her and her husband - It’s probably the hardest lesson I’ll ever teach you, but the most invaluable._

_Hunk had never met his grandfather. He had died at least ten years before he was born, but Ailani’s eyes still lingered on his pictures._

_\- As for me… I’ll see my Jack on the other side..._

_She sighed again._

_\- I’m tired, Hunk. Could you please close the drafts? I want to take a nap._

_He did as he was told before sitting again. Ailani gave him a tiny smile._

_\- You don’t have to be here for me to nap, sweetie._

_Hunk just nodded._

_She pulled his hand and kissed it._

_He stood up and walked from her room._

_He looked back one last time and she smiled again._

_Hunk forced himself to give her a matching smile before closing the door._

_She passed away in her sleep a week later._

 

Both Shiro and Hunk pulled their hands away as if they had been electrocuted.

The tablet fell on the ground.

Up until that moment, both of them had avoided touching the other with their bare skin.

Whenever a person with a third eye touched a spirit, they could see some of the spirit memories. The only rule was that there must be a skin to skin contact. Clothes of any kind (from the person or the spirit) would prevent that from happening. Spirits that knew about this fact could control the memories they wanted to share if they deliberately touched the living third-eyed person. Accidental touches would result in accidental shared memories.

Who would have thought that a third-eyed person who became a ghost themselves would have that power in reverse?

\- D-dude… - Hunk started, trying to make sense of what the hell just happened.

The experience seemed to make Shiro furious.

The temperature dropped in the room. Not as freezing as when Hunk met Shiro for the first time, but still worrisome.

The spirit trembled and clenched his jaw.

“ _G̛ȩ͡͠t̨ ̨͢o̡͏u͝t̷.̛͝_ ”

\- Shiro…

“ _I̵̸͏ ͠s͏͢a̶̡̕i̴̷͢͠͞d̴ ̕͏͘͜͡ **G͠͝E͟͏͝T̷̛̕͝ ̷͜͏Ơ̴̢U̴̷T̸͟͞**!̷̡͟͞_ ”

The rest of the team was fast to skedaddle.

Hunk sighed and picked up the tablet. He walked to the exit (faster than what he would like to admit). Before walking away, he turned to Shiro one last time. Keith had sat on his lap and was now whispering something to his lover. Shiro kept his eyes closed, as if he was focusing on his breathing to try to calm down.

\- I’m... - Hunk swallowed - I’m sorry…

Shiro didn’t reply. Keith only looked at him for one moment, but said nothing.

Hunk’s friends waited for him on the corridor.

\- Come on, big guy. - Matt said. He was pale and his hand trembled - We have to get the fuck out of here.

\- He won’t kill us, Matt.

\- There’s still a very big difference between harming and killing.

Hunk sighed, but they walked fast to the exit. His friends would obviously ask him questions later, but they were focused on getting out now.

Before he could walk to the outside, a hand grabbed Hunk’s sleeve.

He yelped and halted. His friends stared at him alarmed.

\- What happened, Hunk? - Pidge asked with wide eyes.

\- Do we have to fight someone? - Lance asked and assumed a defensive fighting stance, even if he was trembling and even if that was going to be useless against a spirit.

Keith stared at Hunk with his hollow weird stare and still holding his sleeve.

\- It’s Keith, guys.

\- What does he want?

Before Hunk could ask him directly, Keith opened his mouth to talk.

“ _Thornstorm road. Left on the second crossroad. Small park. Three miles in, left on the Lion Boulder. Shack by the lake._ ”

Hunk’s eyes widened.

\- Someone take notes now!

He repeated what Keith had just said.

Keith nodded with a serious expression and glassy eyes. Then he stared deep into Hunk’s eyes. It was a little unsettling, but Hunk sustained the stare.

“ _Golden boy._ ”

\- Huh? What do you mean Keith?

“ _Golden boy_.”

Hunk frowned for a moment. The spirit seemed annoyed with the delay to be understood.

“ _Golden boy!_ ”

Suddenly, Hunk remembered one of the memories Keith shared with him, the one showing Shiro’s charitable event on their old high school. He had described his boyfriend as a “All American _Golden Boy_ ”.

\- You’re talking about Shiro. - he concluded aloud.

Keith nodded.

“ _Golden boy, golden heart._ ”

Hunk nodded.

\- Yeah… I know, Keith, I know… it was an accident. I hope he’s ok.

Keith hummed.

“ _You?_ ”

\- I… I’ll be ok. - he smiled - Thanks, Keith.

With a final nod, the spirit disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making off of this chapter:
> 
> You will probably notice that the chapter count went up by one chapter.  
> That's because I decided to break chapter 4 in two in order to:  
> 1) Keep the chapters with roughly the same low number (between 4k to 6k) instead of having one big ass chapter.  
> 2) It will help with the story flow. 
> 
> Thus, the story will run for an extra week \O/
> 
> I really wanted to explore Shiro's powers =3   
> That and my beta brought the possibility of someone thinking that Shiro actually killed Keith (to put him out of his misery). Which was _reeeeeeeeally_ as far as possible from reality.   
>  Thus, I added this so I could show his powers and clarify that point.   
> I'm really loving to write him as this misunderstood victim, who reacts out of instincts instead of reason LOL it's such a different take on him.   
> I used the moment to include a little of Hunk's grandma =D  
> Her love story is similar to Keith and Shiro in the point that they loved each other even after death, but since Hunk's grandpa died in a much more mundane way, his passage to the afterlife was safe and smooth.
> 
> And I really loved the moment of "Shiro vs. Modern Tech" LOL  
> I'm pretty sure that Lotor must have went to work a few afternoons in the building (it's cool during the summer xD), so Shiro has a vague idea of what a computer and a cellphone are, but it was his first time interacting with a tablet LOL.   
> It's so weird to think that only 50 years ago (on the sixties) people didn't even have computers! Wow, technology!
> 
> I know exactly why Keith was saying "Clear!" but I really would love to hear your theories xD  
> Also, although Keith have many limitations due to lobotomy and trauma, he still takes care of his boyfriend the best he can <3 Helping Hunk is a way to help Shiro, for if he finds the dog tag, both spirits will go to the afterlife, so he'll assist in any way that it's possible to him, even with his limitations <3
> 
> I just love Sheith so much <3 <3 <3  
> They take care of each other <3
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you have enjoyed the story so far! Leave a kudo and a comment if you liked!
> 
> I'm on tumblr if you want to find me, [@wonderland-s-angel](http://wonderland-s-angel.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> Comments help me to get going, you know. Like, SERIOUSLY, they keep me going. I feed on them and I'm always hungry. And there's the magical button if you want to help even more ;D
> 
> 'till next week!  
> bye-bye o/


	5. Family T(h)ree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimer: English is not my first language, so there is just one peculiarity before you start reading:  
> \- [Text after dashes] = TALKING (A Romance Language custom)  
> "[Text between quotation marks]" = THINKING  
>  _Text in italic_ = QUOTES OR MEMORIES  
>  " _Text in italic between quotation marks_ " = SPIRITS TALKING
> 
> Now, to the story!

A few days later, they made a small road trip to the small town.

Keith and Shiro’s hometown was up north to the state. It didn’t seem to have a big hospital, for one of the things on Keith’s paper trail was his transfer report, from the hometown to the closest mental health facility.

It would be a cute little country town if it wasn’t for the people’s attitude.

As soon as they got there, they stopped at a small dinner for food, before going to their hotel (another courtesy by Lotor). Lance flirted a little with the young waiter who giggled at his antics. One of the older waitress sneered at them.

As she was retreating, Pidge kept glaring at her back.

\- Should I tell her that I’m a lesbian?

\- But you’re not a lesbian, Pidge. - Hunk replied amused.

\- I know, but then she’ll hate us all equally.

\- Come on, Pidge. - Matt answered, taking a sip of his coffee - Play nice.

Lance gave her a thumbs up.

\- It’s ok, little pigeon. We’ll be outta here soon.

\- It still sucks.

\- Yeah, but don’t worry. - he gave her a smile - I’m a big boy, I can handle it.

She blushed before crossing her arms and looking out of the window.

\- No wonder Shiro and Keith wanted to leave so desperately.

Hunk agreed with her on that. A gay couple would probably suffer a lot here, especially during the sixties.

Things were probably changing, though, since another of the older waitresses scolded the one who sneered.

Their hotel was basic, but it had comfortable beds and showers with a nice strong hot water pressure.

September was starting to get a little chillier with Fall just around the corner. They had postponed that trip so Hunk would have time to heal his broken bone. In the meantime, they stayed busy with other cases.

Allura had put a good word for their work, because they got many other rich people hiring them to deal with their ghosts. Most of them were really common ghost cases, like the ghost granny who was too worried with her grandchildren to leave, or the grandpa who forgot to tell his family the location of something of importance (money or not). It also meant some rich folks wanting to clean their properties so they could sell at a higher price, much to Hunk’s chagrin. At least there were more of the former type of client than the later. It was very good for business.

Speaking of Allura, she asked them to wait for her to go to the shack. She had a gala event that night (for her campaign) and could only be there in the morning. She had been in constant contact with the team, excited to know even the smallest clue. It was only fair that she went with them to the shack.

Lotor, on the other hand, kept a distance. He asked for updated every week, but didn’t seem to be all over the research like Allura was. Hunk guessed that she was keeping him updated closely while he preferred to act as the man behind the curtains. Which was fine by Hunk, since Lotor seemed to have the best of intentions.

He had hoped that they could solve everything on the next day.

As soon as Allura got in to town in the following morning, they followed Keith’s instructions to get to the shack.

They headed towards a small national park, the Red Lion Park (named after a curious rock formation that resembled a lion). It was away from the town, meaning privacy for the couple (no wonder they liked the place). They soon passed the Lion Boulder, turning left as instructed, then they found the lake and then finally the shack.

In the late 50’s, the park had tried to attract people who liked to camp to make some extra money. They built many of those cozy little cabins. The plan didn’t work, and the shacks were abandoned at the beginning of the 60’s. Keith probably had stumbled across one of them and had claimed it as his own.

It was still there, even 50 years later Keith was gone. However, it wasn’t what Hunk expected to find.

The shack seemed to have been abandoned since Keith and Shiro left. Time had consumed most of the structure. What wasn’t consumed was vandalized.

There was nothing left there.

\- Shit… - Matt said looking at the ruins of the old place - We’re too late.

\- It might still be here. - Allura mused, trying to be positive - Maybe if we look around, we might find it!

They didn’t.

The team looked everywhere they could think of, but there was not even an indication that the dog tag had been there.

They went back to town for lunch, feeling tired and defeated.

All seemed lost.

They had no new clue and no idea of where the dog tag might be.

Their lunch was at a charming little restaurant downtown. It wasn’t too expensive and it wasn’t crowded, thus they had sat by the window.

The mood was gloomy.

\- It could have turned into scrap metal years ago. - Lance lamented.

\- Or it could be in some pawn shop collecting dust. - Pidge added sighing at her coke.

\- Maybe we could ask Keith again. - Allura tried, still doing her best to keep high hopes.

\- I’m pretty sure that he’d have told Hunk if that was the case. - Matt shrugged.

\- It’s not the first time we can’t solve a case. - Hunk said after chewing on his desert.

\- So are you going to give up? Just like that? - Allura frowned in indignation.

\- We can try to search for other clues, but we had seen pretty much everything. - Pidge replied quietly.

Allura slouched on her seat.

\- This is so awful… They deserve to rest in peace, and not to wander like that...

The rest of the team just sighed collectively.

It was always awful to be unable to give peace for a spirit.

At least Lotor didn’t seem to be the kind of asshole that would demand an exorcism to get rid of the couple.

They continued eating in silence.

Hunk was idly staring outside when a police car passed the street. It seemed to be only routine patrolling, the siren was off and the car was going slow.

Hunk’s eyes widened.

Oh my god…

_Oh my god!_

How could he not thought that before!?

The answer had been right in front of his nose the whole time!

He smiled.

\- Guys, I might have an idea of where the dog tag is!

They all looked to him in confusion.

\- Have you been hiding this the whole time so you could make a dramatic statement? - Pidge asked unimpressed.

\- What? No! It just occurred to me now.

\- Really? - Matt had the same unamused tone as his sister.

\- Hey, stop being so negative. - Lance defended his friend.

\- Oh, so please enlighten us on how did this brilliant idea occurred to you?

\- Because of that. - Hunk pointed to the police car. One of the officers inside even looked as if he was singing with the radio.

Pidge raised one eyebrow and shrugged.

\- A police car. No big deal.

\- Yeah, but do remember who on their story was a member of the police, a police Captain?

Pidge blinked for a moment before making an “oooooh!” sound of comprehension. Allura smiled.

\- Shiro’s father was the one who arrested Keith!

She opened her wallet and threw some money on the table (a lot more than what their meals costed).

\- Come on! We don’t have time to waste! – she said excitedly.

They assembled at Pidge and Matt’s room on the hotel in order to research.

It was relatively easy to find Captain Ryou Shirogane’s records and whereabouts, after all he stayed in that town his whole life. According to what they found, he was still alive. He had lost his wife, Mizuki Shirogane, in an accident only a few months after Shiro’s death. She slipped and hit her head due to being drunk. There wasn’t much more information about Mizuki, and Mr. Shirogane hadn’t married again. He kept the same job until he was forcibly retired due to his age. Mr Shirogane now lived at the local nursing home.

They decided to try to visit himthe next day, since it was already getting dark and they didn’t know the routine of the nursing home. They presumed that it would be better to go in the morning.

It was a sunny chilly day when they got to the nursing home. A friendly receptionist received them.

\- Welcome! May I help you with something?

Lance gave her a flirty smile.

\- You surely can.

Allura rolled her eyes before answering herself.

\- We’re looking for Mr. Ryou Shirogane.

The receptionist frowned.

\- Mr Shirogane? Are you sure?

The team looked between themselves in confusion.

\- Uh… yes. We’re positive. - Allura answered.

\- But he has no living relatives. So who are you?

\- We’re actually investigating a cold case and his name came up in our research. - Lance replied.

\- Are you with the police? - she asked warily.

\- Huh, more like private investigators. - Lance smiled nervously.

Although their licence as ghost hunters gave them the same clearance as private investigators, not every establishment would accept it. To enter those kind of institution was always a delicate situation for the team, hence them being nervous.

Thankfully, Allura intervened with a gentle smile.

\- We’d like just to ask a few questions to him. Nothing distressing, I assure you. We don’t want to bother him in any way, and it would probably be great for him to get some visitors, don’t you think?

Her tone was friendly and charming, making Allura look as if she had only good intentions overall and not a drop of malice. No wonder she was the top candidate on the election polls: she could be pretty convincing. Hunk was glad that she was also a good person, otherwise that would be something worrisome.

The receptionist frowned for a moment, thinking about it, before sighing and nodding.

\- You’re probably right, the old Captain would probably benefit from talking to other people. - she raised a finger - But since you’re not his family, if he asks you to leave, you’ll have to obey his request.

Allura smiled gratefully.

\- We understand. Thank you so much!

The receptionist called a young nurse to lead them to Mr. Shirogane’s apartment.

It wasn’t the first time the had to talk to old people to try to help spirits, and since they were already in, it was usually easier to deal with the situation. As they had discussed before, they wouldn’t say anything about the ghosts (considering that many people still doubted their existence and saw the ghost hunters with bad eyes). Lance usually was the one that dealt with that kind of situation, and today Allura would pair up with him.

It all seemed ordinary and normal, leading Hunk to a sense of security.

That security was shattered as soon as they entered Mr. Shirogane’s place.

A shiver ran down Hunk’s spine.

His heart beat fast.

The room was cold.

Too cold for a September sunny day.

And the reason was that there was a spirit sitting by the bed.

Hunk had no way to tell his friends without alerting the nurse and Mr. Shirogane. He felt his hands trembling, but he kept his cool and tried to evaluate the situation.

It didn’t seem like it was an Angry Spirit. First of all because most (if not all) Angry Spirits caused a lot of noticeable havoc, damaging properties, harming people and sometimes even killing them. There was no related case of that kind of thing happening here.

Then there was also the temperature that, although it was lower than normal, it wasn’t “Angry” cold.

Lastly, there was also the _taste_. Hunk couldn’t explain exactly why or how, but the two category of spirits gave him different sensations. He compared those sensations into two different “flavours”: sour for Calm Spirits and bitter for Angry ones. It wasn’t precise, so he preferred to use more reasonable methods to find out if a spirit was a Calm one or an Angry one, but in situations like that his gut feeling and the “tastes” was all he had. There had been only one exception to that rule that was Shiro (Hunk was still trying to come up with a comparison). That spirit in the room was more to a sour taste than bitter.

Hunk looked warily at the spirit from the corner of his eye, keeping watch.

The spirit was an Asian middle-aged woman dressed in a plaid green dress that would look like it came straight from a 60’s magazine if it wasn’t for the yellow stains. Her hair tied in a dishevelled bun and she had only one shoe on. She didn’t seem to notice Hunk (unlike other spirits that seemed to feel his presence as he felt theirs), and kept glaring at Mr. Shirogane.  

The nurse that was taking them there smiled at the old man.

\- Mr. Shirogane, look! These nice people came to visit you!

The spirit looked at them unamused.

“ _Visitors? For you? Who would even want to visit such a decrepit old half dead like you?_ ”

The man pursed his lips. He was sitting by the window, under sunlight, in a wheelchair. He was old, at least 90 years old and really looked his age, with many wrinkles and a hard expression. He was Asian, and, if Hunk had to guess, he’d say that he was Japanese. His posture was still straight and his eyes were sharp, just like Hunk remembered from what he saw in Keith’s memories. He had bags under his eyes and looked overall exhausted. He had been just staring at the television, as if he wasn’t paying any attention.

He scowled at the nurse.

\- I’m not a retard or a child, woman.

\- I know-

\- Then act like it.

The spirit chuckled.

“ _She’s not wrong. You’re as much as a manchild as one can get, darling._ ”

Her last word was obviously sarcastically and she smiled cruelly at the end. He pursed his lips again, but gave no other indication that he had heard her.

The nurse kept the smile, but it was obvious that it was strained.

\- Call me if you need anything. And if you get tired, you can ask them to leave.

She walked out of the room hurriedly, leaving the door open.

Mr. Shirogane glared at the team.

\- Who the hell are you?

Lance flashed him a smile.

\- Hi Mr. Shirogane! My name's Lance and these are my colleagues Hunk, Pidge, Matt and Allura. We’re working on an investigation about a fire in 1965 and your son’s name came up.

The spirit attention switched immediately to Lance. Her head moved in an unnatural way that would give any living person a strong whiplash on their neck, but that was indifferent to the ghost. She widened her eyes and sat straight, staring at them.

Mr. Shirogane narrowed his eyes.

\- I have no son.

“ _You piece of shit._ ” the spirit looked back at him with a snarl “ _You had a son, Ryou, and you **killed him!** Takashi is dead and it’s **your** fault!_”

He closed his eyes tightly at her words, but didn’t show any other sign that he could hear her. She continued.

“ _For once in your miserable life, don’t be a dick!_ ”

Lance frowned.

\- Really? That’s weird. Aren’t you Ryou Shirogane? Father of Takashi Shirogane?

Mr. Shirogane glared at him.

\- I have never heard of that person before.

In a supernatural movement, incomprehensible and too fast for the human eyes, she stood up from the bed and got as close as she could from him. She looked furious and emitted the high-pitched noise of a distressed Calm Spirit.

“ _HE HAS NEWS FROM TAKASHI! I swear to god, Ryou, if you don’t listen to what they have to say about my son, I’ll haunt you to the brink of insanity! I’ll not give you a minute of peace and everything I’ve done so far will look like child play!_ ”

Hunk’s eyes widened.

The spirit was Shiro’s mother, Mrs. Mizuki Shirogane.

_Holy shit!_

Mr. Shirogane didn’t give any indication that he had listened to his deceased wife. However, he moved his wheelchair to be even more under the sun, protected against spirits.

Hunk’s jaw was hanging.

Not only that Mrs. Shirogane was there but her husband could see her!

_Holy fucking shit!_

Hunk didn't know how he hadn't thought of one of Shiro's parents having a opened third eye. It was very common to run in the family, just like in Hunk’s case.

Lance raised his eyebrows, Allura frowned and the Holt siblings looked to each other in confusion.

\- Uh… are you sure, sir? - Lance asked confused.

Mrs. Shirogane was screeching even before her husband could open his mouth.

It was giving Hunk a headache, and it was obvious that they would get no information that way.

He raised his hand to touch his friend’s arm.

\- Lance wait.

The team looked at him with curiosity.

He turned to Mizuki.

\- Ma’am, could you please stop screeching? It’s really distracting.

She stopped immediately, staring at him with wide eyes.

The other people in the room also widened their eyes. Matt took a step to hide behind Hunk.

\- A spirit!?

\- Where?

\- Here!?

Hunk sighed.

\- Guys, calm down. She means no harm.

Mizuki blinked in astonishment.

“ _Can you see me?_ ”

\- Yeah, I can. - he smiled gently - Are you Mrs. Shirogane?

She grimaced.

“ _Unfortunately, yes._ ”

He nodded.

\- Guys, it’s Mrs. Mizuki, you know, Shiro’s mom.

\- Why can’t we see her? - Pidge pouted - Shouldn’t she have the same powers as Shiro?

\- Not necessarily. That’s because Shiro inherited his third eye from his father side.

Everybody in the room stared at Mr. Shirogane. He grunted with anger and scowled at Hunk.

\- What? Do you want a medal for having found that out?

\- Well, kinda… - Hunk nodded with seriousness - You see, there was a fire in the asylum. Keith, your son’s boyfriend, and Shiro died there. They both stayed as spirits, but Shiro has some special abilities because of his third eye. Either way, they’re stuck there, unable to go to the afterlife, unless we find the dog tag you stole from Keith the night you arrested him.

Mr. Shirogane glared at him.

\- How dare you to imply that I did such thing?

“ _Oh, cut the crap, Ryou!_ ” Mizuki turned to Hunk with determination “ _I know where he keeps it. In a box, among all the photos he has of my son. I’ll show you-_ ”

\- You aren’t taking anything, woman! - Mr. Shirogane shouted - You, brats, leave! Now!

\- But-

\- I SAID LEAVE!

The nurse came back to see what that commotion was all about.

Mr. Shirogane used the opportunity to scream again.

\- NURSE! I WANT THEM TO LEAVE!

She smiled apologetically to the group.

\- I’m sorry, but you have to leave now.

Mizuki was making the distress sound again, but now she was also screaming back at her husband, calling him by all bad names she could think of. The television flickered, probably influenced by her anger.

Hunk stared at the duo before sighing in defeat.

They walked away, back to their hotel.

At least this time, they were more hopeful about the situation.

\- Ok, so the dog tag still exist. - Lance said on their new assembly on Allura’s room that evening - At least we clarified that.

\- So there’s hope! - Allura smiled brightly.

Pidge sighed in annoyance.

\- Yeah, but Mr. Shirogane looks really unwilling to give it to us.

\- It’s not the first time we deal with that, little pigeon. Have some faith in my convincing abilities.

Her cheeks got rosier, but she grunted annoyed.

\- By what Hunk told us, his dead wife probably had been trying to make him change his mind for the last 50 years, Lance. I hardly think that you can convince him.

\- We have to try. - Hunk said with conviction - We’ll probably have to split up. Someone will have to stay with Lance in case he need back up. The other Holt will come with me so we can keep our buss- ARGH!

Before he could conclude what he was saying, the spirit of Mizuki showed up by the window out of the blue.

They were on the fourth floor of the building, yet she stood there as if she was just standing on the ground. She smiled and waved at him.

The team stared at him with worry.

\- Hunk, are you ok?

He took a large deep breath to calm down.

He _hated_ when a spirit did that, showing up from nowhere.

\- I’m ok. It’s Mizuki.

\- Mizuki?

She tapped the glass still smiling.

They all looked at the widow and paled. The sun had just set, basking the world in the last lights of twilight, the perfect hour for ghost spotting. They could see her faintly, as if she was made of smoke.

Hunk stood up, noticing his friends’ reactions.

\- Mrs. Shirogane, remember?

The whole team straighten their postures, as if they had been caught red handed doing something. Hunk opened the window.

\- Huh… Hi? - he greeted her sheepishly.

She grinned.

\- Good evening. I don’t think I got your name before.

\- I’m Hunk, ma’am.

\- Nice to meet you, Hunk. I’m Mizuki, but you already knew that.

Hunk nodded.

\- What are you doing here, Mrs. Mizuki?

\- I have a proposition for you.  

She lifted her closed fist, as if she was holding something. She opened her hand, showing Hunk and the others the lost dog tag, the one that belonged to Keith. Mizuki grinned.

\- Ryou left his wardrobe door open, so I took it.

Spirits could take small objects from one place to another. Just things they could carry, and they usually could only stay in the place they were haunting or near the person they were haunting. The only exception was if the spirit was haunting an object. In that case, they could carry it through big distances.

For Mizuki to be able to take the dog tag so far, it could only mean one thing: she was now haunting the metal medal, not her husband anymore.

She continued.

\- I can give it to you, but only if you take it to my son-in-law and only if you take me with you.

Hunk groaned internally.

He really _hated_ to carry haunted items around. He would get anxious until he delivered them or destroyed them or whatever the spirit wanted.

He didn’t exactly have a choice, though.

Not if he wanted to help the two (now three, apparently) spirits to find peace and go to the afterlife.

Hunk nodded.

\- Deal.

He opened his palm and she put the dog tag there.

Still grinning, Mizuki entered the room.

\- Where is she? - Allura asked nervously, looking around.

Hunk guessed that the spirit was now invisible to the others (although he could still see her in the corner of the room, watching).

He sat back with a sigh. Better to break the news for them now.

\- Guys… we have a sixth passenger on our trip back.

His team nodded, still pale in the face. Allura blinked for a moment before her eyes widened and she made a sound of comprehension.

At least they got what they were looking for, Hunk guessed…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making off of this chapter:
> 
> I hope it wasn't much of a twist to have not only Shiro's father being alive, but also his mom being a ghost.   
> And yes, I tried to make a funny joke about it on the chapter title. Fight me. 
> 
> Mizuki was resigned to haunt her husband until the end of his days and then she'd rest in peace (as a punishment for him), but as soon as she found out about her son and her son-in-law she started to haunt the dog tag. That's what happened.   
> And for the record (since I didn't know how to include that in the story) Mizuki started to drink too much after her only son died. Maybe I'll talk about that soon...
> 
> About bisexual Lance in the begining of the chapter, I needed something o show the little town's prejudice and also because I still, unironically, headcanon Lance as bi. This headcanon was one of the things that got me into Voltron in the first place, so I still like it. I don't like that Klantis try to use it only for Klance, but overall it's still a cool headcanon.   
> And there's a little bit of pinning Pidgeance if you squint a bit. 
> 
> I think there's just two more chapters for this. Like, I don't know if I can solve everything in one sole chapter or if I'll need a chapter and an Epilogue. We shall see. 
> 
> Sorry, I'm not feeling very well today. That's why my notes sound more dry than normal. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you have enjoyed the story so far! Leave a kudo and a comment if you liked!
> 
> I'm on tumblr if you want to find me, [@wonderland-s-angel](http://wonderland-s-angel.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> Comments help me to get going, you know. Like, SERIOUSLY, they keep me going. I feed on them and I'm always hungry. And there's the magical button if you want to help even more ;D
> 
> 'till next week!  
> bye-bye o/


	6. God don't play dice, but they surely play domino

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimer: English is not my first language, so there is just one peculiarity before you start reading:  
> \- [Text after dashes] = TALKING (A Romance Language custom)  
> "[Text between quotation marks]" = THINKING  
>  _Text in italic_ = QUOTES OR MEMORIES  
>  " _Text in italic between quotation marks_ " = SPIRITS TALKING
> 
> Now, to the story!

Hunk honestly hated to carry haunted objects. First of all, he’d always end up staying in a room alone with the thing and the spirit, since all the others would be too freaked out to sleep near it. Even if the spirit was on their “resting stance”, it still was a terrible night for Hunk.

(The “resting stance” was when the ghost stayed in a latent state, in which they wouldn’t interact with others. The room would still be too cold and they could wake up at the littlest movement, but many spirits preferred to stay like that, since being awake forever as a ghost tended to be really boring).

He was more than glad that this case was so unusual, since Allura volunteered to keep the dog tag.

\- Honestly, it’s nothing. - she smiled, putting the dog tag in a small jewellery box with her own jewels - Mizuki seemed like a nice person, so I don’t mind sharing a room.

Mizuki smiled at her words.

“ _I like her_.” she grinned.

Thus, everyone ended up having a good night of sleep.

Sleeping wasn’t all what was bad with carrying haunted objects: Travelling to wherever the spirit wanted to take the damn thing was always difficult. None of the team liked to drive at night on road trips, thus they always travelled by day. That would always result in the spirit being uncomfortable and a little jumpy due to the journey under the sun in a cramped car.

Once again, Allura had a solution for that case: her silver Lexus with tinted glass.

Not a perfect solution, but it was way better than what they usually had.

Hunk couldn’t help but think and feel that it was as if all pieces were falling in place. It was a good feeling that he sometimes would get at the end of a case, the feeling of _resolution_. Everything that needed to be done was done, and all what was left was to help the spirits rest.

He travelled with Allura in her car, since he could see Mizuki, while the rest of the team went on Matt’s old truck. They made sure to leave before the sun rose in the sky even with the day being cloudy. Everything to try to make it more comfortable for the spirit. However, it was still a very upsetting journey.

After travelling in silence for some time, Allura sighed.

\- It’s just me or is the atmosphere really tense for no reason?

Hunk sighed.

\- Yeah, sorry… Spirits are really never happy to be under the sun, and they usually make it clear for people around them. Most of them don’t want to, but it’s really an uncomfortable situation for them to say the least.

Mizuki, who was sitting on the back seat with her arms crossed and looking warily around, looked down. Even with the smoked glass and cloudy weather, she was tense.

“ _Sorry…_ ”

\- It’s ok, Mizuki. - he smiled at her - We know it’s not your fault.

Allura smiled at the back seat through the rear-view mirror.

\- And you’re a great roommate, so I know that just because you’re don’t like the sun.

Mizuki smiled back.

\- I was just wondering if we could make it a better journey for everybody - Allura added - I mean, we’re giving everyone a happy ending at last. So we could lighten up the mood.

The spirit looked annoyed at the windows.

“ _We can try, but I really will feel more at ease when we get there and I see my son_.”

Hunk ‘translated’ that to Allura before he hummed.

\- I think it’ll be better if you rest for a few hours before meeting them.

“ _Why!?_ ” she looked at him with anger “ _Do you know how long it was since the last time I saw my sons!?_ ”

They weren’t using air conditioning since the ghost acted as a air conditioner. In that moment, both living people felt a shiver and the hair on their arms standing. For a moment, Hunk had to reassure himself that Mizuki was a Calm Spirit and wouldn’t hurt them. But, goddammit, now he knew where Shiro had gotten his fury.

\- We’re gonna take you to them. - Hunk reassured her - I promise you. But you’re are kinda… huh… kinda…

\- Keyed up? - Allura offered.

\- Yeah, that. You’re kinda keyed up because of the journey. Resting for one extra day will be good for everybody.

She glared at him for a moment. Then she sighed resigned.

“ _But I miss them so much…_ ” she mumbled looking down again.

Hunk translated the situation again to Allura, who pouted while thinking.

\- You call them “your sons”. It’s kinda cute, but it feels a lot... liberal for the period. Kinda hippie.

Mizuki smiled softly.

“ _It’s not a matter of being a hippie. It’s a matter that my son never seemed more happy in his life than when he was with Keith. I’d already adore whoever made my Takashi that happy, but since his boy had no family, I gladly accept him in._ ” she chuckled “ _He was up for grabs, so I took him._ ”

Hunk snorted and Allura smiled when he translated for her.

Mizuki lost her smile.

“ _I guess my husband caused such a bad impression that any good deed paled near it._ ”

Hunk smiled at her.

\- No good deed go unnoticed. Don’t worry, everything will be alright now.

She smiled gratefully to him.

They kept talking like that. It was a little awkward in the beginning (like any conversation Hunk had to keep translating), but it was a rather pleasant trip, all things considered.

They got back to the city by lunchtime.

Allura kept the dog tag. She had taken a picture and sent it to Lotor, but apparently, he wanted to see the real thing.

\- I think it’s only fair. - she gave the team a sad smile - Since he’s the one that started all this.

The team looked between themselves, a little wary of their employer. However, Allura had a point, and although Lotor had acted secretive in the beginning, he also seemed to be on the spirits side.

Hunk sighed.

\- Take care of it, ok?

Allura kept her smile.

\- I will.

That night, Hunk was feeling really excited. Since the beginning, this case was rather sensitive for him, considering the kind of individual Shiro was.

Giving it a good ending felt awesome.

Like a great accomplishment.

His dreams were pleasant, even if he couldn’t remember exactly what they were. All Hunk knew was that it involved his grandparents, bubbles and puppies.

Lotor sent them a message in the morning for them to meet him and Allura at the Asylum. It wasn’t exactly the time Hunk would chose to free spirits (because of the sun), but it helped him to be in high spirits (no pun intended).

It was another sunny and bright day, with the red and orange leaves of the trees moving with the gentle breeze.

They got there roughly at the same time, and the first thing Hunk noticed was that Lotor was holding a big black umbrella over his head. Allura walked beside him, holding his hand and her own umbrella (a pink one). Mizuki stood beside him in the shadow. It didn’t look exactly comfortable for her, but it was better than leaving the spirit under the sun until they reached the building.

The three of them smiled at them.

\- Morning guys! - Allura greeted with a big grin.

\- Fellows. - Lotor nodded with a smile of his own.

\- Morning! - Pidge greeted.

She was carrying her video camera to register the moment.

Because the Passage to the Afterlife was always a beautiful moment, and one of the rare ones that could be seen by everybody in the room. Before the reveal to the whole world about the real existence of spirits, it was a rare occurrence, since people with the third eye are not common among the population and not all of them even want to deal with spirits. Now it was a special occasion, a final goodbye before the spirits moved to whatever was on the other side. Regardless if they had been a good or a bad person and regardless if they had been a Calm or an Angry Spirit, the Passage always seemed to be a moment of great happiness for the ghosts.

Hunk liked to believe that most of them kept that happiness in the Afterlife.

They all entered the building feeling excited. Mizuki thanked Lotor and Allura for the umbrellas even if they couldn't hear her. She had, by far, the biggest smile of them all.

Lotor didn’t even tried to go looking for the couple.

\- Keith! Shiro! Come here, please! – he called instead.

Everybody held their breaths in expectation. Pidge got her camera ready.

Hunk felt a slight shiver in his arms, as if someone had opened the door of a room with air conditioning turned on and the cool air touched his skin.

He grinned.

At least one of them was nearby.

Soon after that, Keith’s head popped from the wall in, well… a “ghostly” way. His stare seemed hollow and glassy as always.

Only Hunk and Mizuki could see him for now. She had been warned about his state, thus, her smile broadened.

“ _Keith…_ ” she said with affection in her voice and a sweet smile on her lips.

Keith’s eyes become comically wide. He blinked a few times before pulling back and disappearing.

Mizuki made a motion that she’d follow him, but Hunk stopped her.

The others looked at him with curiosity.

\- Keith popped here just a moment ago. - he explained before turning to Mizuki - Wait a moment here, I think he’ll bring Shiro.

She kept her smile and nodded.

They heard a few sounds around the building. A door slamming. Some pans falling on the floor. An old bell ringing due to the wind.

Matt chuckled.

\- Well, he’s really excited about it, huh?

Soon enough Keith showed up again, coming from the same wall. Pidge, Matt, Lance and Allura gasped in surprise, since they were seeing Keith this time. Lotor was more used to Shiro’s effects on other spirits and reacted only by grinning.

Keith pulled Shiro by the hand through the wall.

“ _What’s so important-?_ ” he was asking his boyfriend. He stopped mid-sentence, though, with his eyes wide and staring at Mizuki in awe “ _...mom?_ ”

She ran towards him and hugged him tightly.

“ _Takashi!_ ”

He was surprised for one second before hugging back tightly.

Pidge was already recording, since the beautiful scene started earlier than usual.

When Mizuki detached from Shiro, she immediately hugged Keith too. He looked a little puzzled for a moment before hugging back clumsily. Shiro kept a hand on her shoulder.

“ _How did you get here?_ ” he asked, still in awe “ _I didn’t even know this was possible!_ ”

She looked at him smiling.

“ _I had a little help from your friends, sweetie. They’re very nice kids._ ”

Shiro seemed to notice the other people in the room just now.

“ _Oh… but… why?_ ” he appeared sad for a moment “ _Why are you still here?_ ”

“ _Now, that’s a rude question. Don’t be rude, Takashi. I raised you better._ ”

He looked even sadder.

“ _You should have passed… Why are you still on earth… What…_ ” he looked away and didn’t finish his sentence.

“ _What is it, sweetheart? What’s wrong?_ ”

Shiro sighed.

“ _It’s great to see you again, mom. I missed you so much… But this isn’t how things were supposed to be. What is keeping you here?_ ” he looked at her with a sad sincerity “ _Maybe they can help you._ ”

Mizuki chuckled.

“ _You’re a darling, as always… It’s alright, Takashi. I was stuck here for another reason before they found me, one that really doesn’t matter now. Now I’m going to stay with my two favourite boys,_ ” she cupped Shiro’s cheek with her right hand and Keith’s cheek with her left “ _until they go to the other side. Then I’ll be able to finally rest._ ”

Keith blinked, his face completely blank.

Shiro’s expression, on the other hand, fell. He looked devastated.

“ _No… that can’t be…_ ”

“ _Huh? Why not, sweetie?_ ”

He looked away again.

“ _We… we’re stuck here… Keith can’t go until he find the dog tag I gave him, and I won’t go without him._ ” he sighed, holding back tears “ _I’m so sorry…_ ”

Lotor hemmed with a smirk.

\- Are you, in any way, looking for this?

He opened his palm, showing the dog tag for the ghost couple.

It was a little too dramatic for Hunks tastes, but he could only shake his head with a smile and a half-hearted roll of his eyes. Allura seemed to do the same, too used with her boyfriend’s antics.

The dog tag was shinier than yesterday, as if someone had polished it carefully. Hunk was positive that it was still the same dog tag since Mizuki was there and she was smiling. None of those things would happen if Lotor had presented a copy.

Shiro’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

Nobody saw Keith moving.

Either it was too fast or he simply showed up in front of Lotor.

He took the dog tag from Lotor’s hand slowly, staring at it with reverence and awe. Keith brought it close to his eyes, inspecting it as if he couldn’t believe it was really his dog tag. Then he chuckled, letting out a smile that made him beam.

Literally beam.

The moment a spirit was finally ready to make the Passage was frequently called “the Shift”, because they changed their form to the best version of themselves, either a form from their best years or something entirely different that they wanted to be. They shifted from the appearance of the moment of their deaths to something beautiful. They would always have a golden aura around them. Hunk liked to believe that many of the stories of angels and fairies from past centuries were inspired by those kind of visions, since anyone could see them, not only third eyed people.

Keith was gleaming in golden and his appearance shifted in front of everybody’s eyes. He wore the clothes he was wearing the night he was arrested: his black boots, jeans, red T-shirt, his black leather jacket and fingerless gloves. The dog tag was in a chain around his neck. He was still too thin to be 100% healthy, but he didn’t look as pale as a corpse anymore. His cheeks were even a little rosy. His hair was starting to grow back, making the scar behind his left ear to be barely visible. Keith smiled at them, and the smile reached his eyes. He still had a peculiar stare in his blue eyes, but his stare didn’t look glassy and hollow anymore. It had a whimsical gleam, something different from the fiery light his eyes had on the glimpses Hunk saw in Keith’s memories, but it was also different from the sad emptiness that Keith had on the Asylum and as a spirit. It was somehow charming when combined with his big grin.

Not everybody seemed satisfied with his transformation, though, much to everybody’s annoyance.

\- Why does he still have the scar from the lobotomy? - Lance asked somehow exasperated - Shouldn’t he, like, be all healed and- ouch!

Hunk had elbowed him. The Holts rolled their eyes.

\- Stop ruining the moment, Lance. - Pidge grunted.

\- But he should!

“ _Some wounds take more than that to heal, Lance._ ” Shiro said with a gentle smile. He walked towards Keith and Keith walked towards him. “ _Some leave permanent scars. But it’s ok. Love should still be unconditional, regardless of any scar._ ”

They touched their foreheads softly. It was cute how Keith had to stand on his toes to do so. They were both smiling at each other.

“ _I’m with you for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, and not even death do us part._ ” Keith uttered in a gentle tone.

As he was saying those words, Shiro Shifted. Shiro’s hair was longer, tied in a man bun. He wore a loose colorful shirt, dark baggy pants and sandals. He still didn’t have his right arm, but his prosthetic was now made of wood. It still moved just like a normal arm (probably one of his abilities). He shared Keith’s golden aura.

They stared at each other’s eyes, lost in their own bubble.

Mizuki snickered, and that made people look at her again. She was now the only spirit that hadn’t Shifted yet, but she smiled brightly.

“ _My son, a hippie!_ ” she laughed before continuing in an amused tone “ _Now I see how Keith is a bad influence on you._ ”

Keith smiled mischievously at her, but Shiro looked worried.

“ _Mom, what about you?_ ”

“ _Oh, don’t worry about me, sweetheart._ ” Mizuki replied gently “ _You two already waited for too long to be happy and in peace._ ”

He looked like he’d rebut. However, Keith held his hand, interlacing their fingers gently.

“ _San Francisco, Shiro_.” he beamed.

Spirits always had “something to do” or “a place to be” in the afterlife as their personal version of heaven. Maybe that was Keith’s way to call his lover in the direction of paradise.

Mizuki nodded.

“ _Go now, Takashi. If you two hurry, you can catch the 12 o’clock train. Just…_ ” she gave him a tearful smile “ _don’t forget to write._ ”

Shiro smiled with tears in his eyes too.

“ _I won’t forget._ ”

The three hugged tightly.

Shiro and Keith turned to the group. They were holding hands and smiling.

“ _I have no words to thank you guys enough... Thank you… for everything._ ”

Hunk and his team grinned very pleased.

\- It’s our job and duty. - Matt said with a thumbs up.

\- And we’re very happy that we could help. - Hunk added.

\- Have a nice trip! - Pidge and Lance said together by chance, before looking at each other and giggling.

\- I’m happy for both of you. - Allura had a soft smile.

Lotor smirked.

\- Take ca-

Before he could finish, Keith hugged him suddenly. Lotor looked utterly confused. Shiro chuckled and hugged him too.

“ _Birdie boy says bye-bye._ ” Keith said to him. It looked as if it held a meaning for the three of them, for Lotor had a few tears in his eyes as he hugged them back.

“ _Take care, Lotor._ ” Shiro said softly as they detached.

Lotor only nodded.

The couple held hands again.

“ _Come on, babe._ ”

They walked together towards the exit of the building. As they walked, they were slowly fading away, going from this world to the next one.

Keith sang an old song as they walked towards the sunlight.

“O _n a warm San Franciscan night, Angels sing, leather wings, Jeans of blue, Harley Davidson's too, On a warm San Franciscan night…_ ”

The last remains of their silhouette turned into golden dust, like the ember of a fire, slowly dying out. It was carried softly by the wind, until they were completely gone.

The ones who stayed were in silence for a moment, until Mizuki laughed softly.

“ _So we really are made of stardust, huh?_ ” she mused in a light tone.

Everybody turned back to her.

Mizuki had Shifted while nobody was looking. Her dress seemed a little more modern than before, but was still a modest dress from the sixties. It was an elegant pastel yellow and white plaid dress. Her hair was properly arranged in a bun. She didn’t look like your traditional vintage housewife, though, for she wore blood red shoes with a two inches high heels and red lipstick. She smiled at them.

“ _And I guess it makes sense that I’m the last domino to fall on the sequence to a beautiful art…_ ” her smile grew “ _I have to thank you all for this… For giving my sons their peace. That’s all a mother could ever want._ ”

She walked towards Lotor. She smiled and patted his cheek.

“ _You’re the one that started the sequence of the domino falling until this moment, and I’m forever grateful for that. You’re a good man, Lotor, and you should be proud of this. Thank you…_ ”

Lotor swallowed hard.

\- What are you gonna do now? - Hunk asked softly.

She laughed mischievously before answering.

“ _Something I should have done a long time ago. I’m gonna go out, find myself a good lawyer and sign some divorce papers_.”

Mizuki smiled at them one last time.

“ _Take care, all of you. And thank you…_ ”

She faded in front of them, the golden dust floating for a moment, like fireflies, before she was completely gone.

All the people remaining on the room had some emotional tears too and soft smiles on their lips. It was a beautiful moment. Pidge stopped her recording with a pleased sigh, before drying her own tears.

Lotor still seemed a little off balance and tearful.

He hemmed to swallow his own tears before offering them a shaky smile. It was a small and shy smile, but there was many happy feelings behind it.

\- You guys want some breakfast? My treat.

Hunk sighed pleased and dried a tear. He might hate having to deal with spirits, but damn he **loved** a happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making off of this chapter:
> 
> I am _really_ sorry for the delay on this chapter...  
>  It was a terrible week, with me barely being able to get out of bed (depression is a bitch...). I did my best, but it still was a day later...  
> Yeah... Thanks for the patience.
> 
> Anyway, this one of the chapters I like most on this fanfic, since it's all soft and gentle. Those who follow me on tumblr and that had seen the moodboard for this chapter may have noticed how colorful it is.  
> It's a cheerful chapter, therefore it deserves a colorful art! =D  
> I just wish I could draw stuff for it ._. (since I have absolutely no money even to pay for the things I need, so I can't afford any commission)
> 
> The chapter name is once again me trying to be funny haha  
> It's a reference to Albert Einsten's quote "God does not play dice with the universe."  
> I adapted the language to make "god" more gender neutral (and use the "they/them" pronouns) and added the bit of domino for obvious reasons. I hope you guys like it!
> 
> And I just couldn't let the opportunity to have hippie Shiro LOL even if for a few moments.  
> EDIT: There's a super cute art of them leaving for the afterlife now <3  
> It was made by [@shizuna610](https://shizuna610.tumblr.com/) . THANK YOU SO MUCH, I LOVE IT <3 <3 <3  
> Here's the link for the art: **[[ART HERE]](https://shizuna610.tumblr.com/post/178985500394/a-quick-two-minute-doodle-for-wonderland-s-angel)**
> 
> I know that the main protagonist is Hunk, but Lotor definitely had the biggest role to save the two of them, hence the focus on him at the end. He needs more love. He's a work in progress, and he's improving at least =3
> 
> In the end, I decided to keep the original disposition of the chapters. I know that next chapter won't have Sheith, just some mentions to them, so I imagine that many people will lose interest, but I assure you that it will be a good epilogue for the story, so stick with me for a week more, ok? just to reach the good ending of this adventure.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you have enjoyed the story so far! Leave a kudo and a comment if you liked!
> 
> I'm on tumblr if you want to find me, [@wonderland-s-angel](http://wonderland-s-angel.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> Comments help me to get going, you know. Like, SERIOUSLY, they keep me going. I feed on them and I'm always hungry. And there's the magical button if you want to help even more ;D
> 
> 'till next week!  
> bye-bye o/


	7. Epilogue: A change of heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Standard disclaimer: English is not my first language, so there is just one peculiarity before you start reading:  
> \- [Text after dashes] = TALKING (A Romance Language custom)  
> "[Text between quotation marks]" = THINKING  
>  _Text in italic_ = QUOTES OR MEMORIES  
>  " _Text in italic between quotation marks_ " = SPIRITS TALKING
> 
> Now, to the story!

Lotor had lied through his teeth: he didn’t use the area to build a shopping mall.

He promptly demolished the old construction and on its place, he built two buildings there.

The first one was an art gallery, the _New Ways Gallery_. It wasn’t as grand as _Altea Art Gallery_ , but it was charming and had a great impact on the community, since many of the art exhibitions and shows were from new and young artists trying to show their work. _New Ways_ was particularly connected with the second building Lotor build there.

A LGBT helping center.

It was a place designed to support LGBT youth that otherwise would end up being homeless or that were abuse survivors. Lotor created the organization with Allura’s help. It had everything needed to help those young people: a temporary place to stay until they could find a definitive solution, health support (physical and emotional), means to help them to get a job or to move forward, and more. Lotor was personally involved in the project by being the main lawyer in situations that legal assistance was needed. Many of the expositions on the _New Ways_ came from the center beside it, from young artists that otherwise would be homeless.

\- Didn’t you say that you’d build a shopping mall in the area of the old asylum? - Pidge asked him with a raised eyebrow the next time Lotor asked them to meet him in his office.

Lotor chuckled.

\- I said “maybe a Shopping Center.” I changed my mind.

The team smiled softly at him.

Most people liked to say that Lotor was only doing that for the tax exemption, but Hunk knew better.

Lotor cared.

\- My Father had many skeletons in the closet. Quite literally in some cases. - Lotor joked - Therefore I have a few more cases for you to deal with.

Lance narrowed his eyes.

\- Are you gonna give us all the information this time?

The layer laughed.

\- Yes, indeed. Although I expect results as good as on Shiro and Keith’s case, these aren’t as personal to me. Therefore, this is all the info I could gather and my notes about it.

The Daibazaal Empire that Zarkon had built by stepping over people was starting to change for the best under Lotor’s administration, even if most people didn’t want to admit it.

For Hunk and his team, that meant excellent job opportunities.

Allura kept in touch with them too, but more on a personal level. For some it would seem odd to have people of such different backgrounds becoming friends, but for them it was as if Allura was always part of the team.

(Matt and Lance were very mopey the day she announced her engagement with Lotor on Instagram. It was a really nice picture, though, with Allura exhibiting the ring for the camera with a big grin and Lotor kissing her in the cheek).

(Her PR team milked that opportunity dry: The new couple was now “Romeo and Juliet” of politics. The children of rival households getting together. People already loved a good romance story, but with Lotor going out of his way to make up for the wrongdoings of his father, they started to say that she was the genius and good soul behind all that. And if Allura could make “the spawn of the devil” good, she’d make miracles for the city if elected mayor.)

(She won the elections).

Hunk watched the construction and opening of the LGBT center and the art gallery a little closer than his friends did, though. Because Shiro’s case really moved him.

Letting go.

That was the lesson his grandma said was the hardest.

Letting go of things that only dragged us down and letting go of people that reached their time to leave.

The hardest lesson indeed.

Because there was a fine line between what and who needed to go and those who you should make everything to stay. It was unpredictable what could (and  
would) keep our spirit on earth, but Hunk gets it: different things had different meanings to different people. It would be insensitive to blame people for staying for something he considered small.

Hunk liked to meditate on the subject by walking through the new art gallery and he liked to honour the couple’s memories by helping on the center whenever he could.

The _New Ways_ had three floors. The top floor was a small theatre, which was used for plays, recitals and other performative presentation. The ground floor was where the temporary art expositions by young artists happened. Hunk enjoyed those a lot (and he even bought a piece from one of the expositions for the office).

His favourite part, however, had to be the second floor, where the gallery permanent collection was.

 _New Ways_ was just a small and brand new gallery, so there wasn’t any big name artist as part of the collection, but it had good stuff from local artists. According to Allura, Lotor was still working to have one or two famous pieces from postmodernism there (to attract more people), but for now it was just the house favourites.

Hunk didn’t mind. It was a nice collection nonetheless.

Some works were by Allura herself.

Two of Hunk’s favourite pieces there were a tribute to the spirit couple they freed and a tribute to the mother they helped.

Allura called Mizuki’s picture “Not your typical housewife”, and Hunk would chuckle sometimes reading that.

The canvas with Mizuki wasn’t the biggest, but there were a lot of meaning behind it. It had a more modern style, with only three colours on the canvas: black for the feature lines, pastel green for her clothes and red for her lips. Her smile was soft, but with so few colours, Allura was able to reproduce the strong stare Mizuki had, that quiet fire inside her.

As for Keith and Shiro’s piece, Allura had called it “Not even death do us apart”, which all the team agreed was a fitting title.

It was composed of two canvas.

One in sepia tones, with Shiro and Keith being apart from each other. Shiro wore a military uniform and had blood on his face. Keith had a long sleeved shirt with many “details” and bruises on his face. They were apart from each other, but they still looked to their lover’s face, seeking his eyes. To anyone who didn’t know the ghost couple, the picture seemed to be a beautiful metaphor for separation. Hunk knew better: there many explicit details about the two star-crossed lovers that Allura took from reality. The details on Keith’s shirt were the details of a straightjacket, and although Allura made Keith’s hair longer, it was possible to see part of his scar behind his ear. The blood on Shiro’s face was from his wound that marred his face, and he wore a glove in his right hand. The background was one of the many procedure rooms on the old Asylum.

It was a sad piece of art, but it was sadness that should be honoured.

The other canvas was colorful, with the couple together. Allura had blatantly painted how Shiro and Keith looked when they departed to the Afterlife for the whole world to see. Which, in Hunk’s opinion, was a wonderful idea, since that was one of the most touching moment he had on his career as a ghost hunter. They held hands and touched foreheads, looking in each other’s eyes directly and smiling. They were standing in a colorful corner of a big city that might or might not be San Francisco. People liked to create explanations to Shiro’s wood hand and Keith’s scar. It was fun to hear them talking and theorizing.

It was a sunny summer day, about one year after the first time Hunk had met the ghost couple. They only opened the office in the afternoons (since they usually would have to deal with the spirits at dusk and research by night) which usually gave Hunk the mornings free. _New Ways_ had a new LGBT themed exposition, since Pride month had just ended. Lance had said that it was an awesome exposition, so Hunk went there to take a look. He liked to go alone, so he could just enjoy the art in silence (he would take some pictures, though, so he could comment with his friends later).

The exhibition had been very good indeed. It was a mix between vivacious feelings of freedom and love, and depictions of hard times due to homophobia. It was very touching.

Looking careful to all the pieces took all the morning, but it was well used time. He still had some time before lunch and before having to go to work, so Hunk decided to revisit the permanent collection once again.

He walked slowly, stopping at his favourites pieces.

The “Not even death do us apart” canvas were located on the middle of the gallery, with a nice spot to sit in front of them and admire Allura’s great work. It was one of the most beloved pieces, and now that Allura was Mayor there was a little more interest in her art pieces. The good thing of going during the mornings on weekdays was the peace Hunk would have to just admire the art with little people around.

On that particular summer day, there was already someone sitting in front of the pictures. That wasn’t a big deal in itself, however, the person sitting there staring at the artwork was what caught Hunk off guard.

Sitting on his wheelchair, there was no other than Shiro’s father.

Hunk’s eyes widened.

What the hell was Mr. Shirogane doing there?

Before Hunk could dodge and avoid being sighted, the old man turned his head to him with an annoyed expression.

\- I saw you, boy. No need to run. You can sit here if you want.

He looked less tired than before. The bags under his eyes were gone. His eyes still had a great sadness in them, a type of glassy eyes that only old people usually showed, marred with solitude and loss.

Quietly, Hunk sat on the bench beside Mr. Shirogane.

Curiosity took the best of him.

\- What are you doing here, sir?

\- It’s an open gallery.

\- Uh… ok?

They stayed in silence for some moments, looking at the pictures in front of them.

Mr. Shirogane sighed.

\- I… - he swallowed hard, as if to untie a knot in his throat - I just… I… I wanted to see them again…

Hunk looked at him, waiting for the old man to continue.

\- I thought… I thought they could still be here.

The young man look at his hands.

\- Mr. Shirogane… They are gone…

Mr. Shirogane hummed.

\- Yeah, I figured it out. I don’t think they’d demolish the old asylum if they’re still here.

\- You’d be surprised of how many times that happen.

\- It’s a lot less than in my time, boy.

Hunk blinked in surprise.

\- Huh? Really?

\- Yeah, boy… I saw many, - he chuckled - “homeless” spirits in my time as a police officer. Things change.

He sighed.

\- I… I should have realized that years ago… - his eyes were hard and he clenched his jaw, frowning his lips in a distressed line. He looked a lot like Shiro on that moment - Things change… I should have made better decisions…

Hunk hummed with anger. He couldn’t help himself but to frown.

\- It’s a little too late for that. Like, half a century too late.

Mr. Shirogane frowned too, and for one moment he seemed as if he’d get angry. However, he sighed again.

\- I know… I realized that on the third night Mizuki was gone.

He looked at the ground before continuing.

\- She wouldn’t let me sleep. At least not more than what was necessary for me not to die. At first, I used tons of sleeping pills. Then my doctor said they were causing more harm than good and cut them. I haven’t had a good night of sleep until I let her steal the dog tag.

\- You left the wardrobe open on purpose?

\- Yes… But not out of noble reasons. - he took a long breath - I just wanted her gone. I was exhausted and I was only thinking about myself. The first night alone was pure bliss. The first night of full sleep in years. But then when I woke up after the third day I realized how utterly alone I was.

He made a pause, looking at his hands.

\- It took me a few months to realize that it was all my fault… I blamed him for losing my son and my wife for too long, when the one responsible for that was me.

\- Do you mean Keith?

\- Yeah… the Kogane boy...

\- How did you find out about them?

Mr. Shirogane looked at the pictures again, to the one in which the couple was happy. He swallowed hard, once again untying the knot on his throat that didn’t let him talk for so long.

\- Takashi had been defending Kogane, quietly saying that I should take it easy on him, that he had no family and meant no harm. I’d always make him be quiet by raising my voice. I feared that my son had become a goddamned hippie pussy, so I pushed him hard. - a sigh - I followed him one afternoon. I saw when he and Kogane meet. They didn’t kiss or even hug, and I was too far to hear what they were saying. But they held hands… Takashi… He had a bright smile on his face…

This eyes moved to the canvas showing Shiro and Keith’s suffering.

\- I said awful things to my own son that night. Insulted and threatened him. He took it in stride, like the good man he was, but I couldn’t see that at the time. All I could see was the devil tempting his soul and he was being too weak to resist. I wanted to toughen him up and set him straight again.

He chuckled with no humor behind his quiet laugh.

\- Do you want to hear something funny? - he waited Hunk nod before continuing - Kogane toughen Takashi up more than I could ever do. He made Takashi stand up for himself, against the world, while I just tried to bully him into submission.

Mr. Shirogane studied Keith’s face on the sepia picture.

\- I never understood why Kogane screamed so hard for me to give that dog tag back. I still don’t understand.

\- It had an important meaning to Keith. - Hunk said softly - It was… like… uh… I think the only comparison that occurs to me is that, to him, that dog tag was like an engagement ring.

The old man looked at him surprised.

\- Engagement…?

\- Yeah, like… It was like a promise that Shiro, Takashi, would come back and that they would be together. Like, happy together.

Mr. Shirogane looked at his hands. His eyes were wide with shock and horror.

\- God… - he closed his eyes tightly before opening them again and looking at Hunk - But then, why did my son throw his in the lake?

\- Huh? What? What happened?

\- I… - another sigh - When Takashi came home, he was… he was broken. I could see in his eyes that he’d never be the same again. I hoped that from there he could become the ideal I had planned him. But then, at the first opportunity he had, he went to the lake, to the cabin… Looking for the Kogane boy.

There were tears in his eyes and he looked again to the painting.

\- Until that day, he had never raised his voice to me. He had never disobeyed, he had always looked at me with some kind of affection. That day he… he stood up for himself… He stood up for Kogane… I’ve never seen him angry until that day and, boy… he was furious. - he clenched his hands and pursed his lips - Until that day I believed that his gentleness, his soft side was a weakness. But I was wrong. Takashi… he had a backbone of steel.

The old man touched his own face.

\- Hell hath no fury... He broke my nose, said he had no father and threw the other dog tag in the lake.

Hunk hummed.

\- I can only guess why he did that.

\- Please, tell me. You probably know my son more than I have ever known.

That made Hunk pity him. Just a little.

\- To Shiro it was a leash. That was the reason he was away, why he couldn’t protect Keith.

\- Oh… - he nodded - Makes sense…

\- What happened after that?

\- He left that same day. He called to say good-bye to Mizuki. She cried the whole night and blamed me for that. She was rightful to do so. Then… we read about the fire on the newspaper. It was a great tragedy at the time and she just knew… - he dried a few tears before they fell from this eyes - Mizuki knew that our son had burned with the asylum. It’s ironic that I’m the one that can see spirits, but she was the one that could feel that our boy was gone.

Mr. Shirogane sighed, trying to hold back tears.

\- She started to drink to drown the pain. I… I loved her. I loved her, but I was a self-absorbed bastard. I couldn’t see beyond my own anger and pain. I was so blinded by my own hurt ego that I didn’t see how the last family I had left was also suffering. The love of my life died because I bullied our son into suicide and I wasn’t there for her when she needed me.

He cried quietly, looking at his hands on his lap.

\- Mr. Shirogane… I’m so-

\- Don’t.

The old man sniffed, desperately swallowing his tears.

\- I don’t deserve forgiveness for what I’ve done.

\- But you are sorry for it.

\- Yes, but like you said, it’s too late, half a century too late. I even wasted the only second chance I got.

\- Huh? What?

Mr. Shirogane looked at Hunk.

\- When you and your team went to see me, I could have given you the dog tag and have you take me with you. I could have come here, seeing my son again and seeing… - he swallowed hard - I could have met the Kogane boy again… I could have met him and said…

His eyes went back to the canvas.

\- Said “I’m sorry… I’m sorry Keith that I wasn’t the father-in-law you deserved.”

He sniffed again. Hunk dried a few tears from his own eyes.

\- But I only realized my mistakes when I was completely alone. Left behind because of my own ego. I still struggled for so long after Mizuki left to accept that it was my fault.

Hunk sighed his tears away before asking.

\- What made you change your mind?

Mr. Shirogane chuckled humorlessly again.

\- There’s a new lady on the nursing home, just a little younger than me. A widow with five daughters. One of them came out to her around the same time Takashi died. Not only she accepted her daughter and her girlfriend, but she also started helping other lesbian girls that might need a home and support. She and her husband, before he died, helped a lot of women through their lives, and she proudly told everyone about many stories of “her girls”. The only reason she’s in the nursing home is because her health is getting worse with age. But she has visitors every single day. Every single day one of the many women she helped comes to see her. Her own daughters go on the weekends with their grandchildren. Well, - he chuckled - except for the oldest, because she lives in Australia. She calls every week, though.

He looked at the pictures again, but this time to the colorful one.

\- She accepted the differences, embraced them. And now she’s surrounded by people that love her… I don’t think I’d be as selfless as her, but… maybe… - he sniffed - I could have my son and his… his…

He swallowed the knot on his throat.

\- My son and his husband could be visiting me… maybe even bringing grandchildren with them…

Mr. Shirogane laughed with self-depreciation.

\- And here I am, making this all about myself again. - he sighed - I’d love to have them visit me, but what’s more important is that Takashi would be happy. _Both of them_ would be happy.

They stayed in silence, staring at the pictures.

\- I guess… I guess I should thank you, boy. - Mr. Shirogane continued - You’re the reason they all found the peace they deserve.

Hunk smiled.

\- It was a pleasure, sir.

\- Well, the least I can do is to pay you lunch. - he said, already navigating his wheelchair to the elevator.

Hunk blushed and kicked himself mentally. He was convinced that he was only talking to a spirit. Well, apparently Mr. Shirogane was still alive and kicking.

He walked with him to keep up.

\- There’s no need-

\- I insist. - he nodded - I also came here to thank you for that. And now that I’m here, I might start to do something good with the time I have left.

\- Huh? What do you mean?

They walked out of the building, in the direction of a nearby cafe. The sun was still shining brightly.

Mr. Shirogane had a distant expression.

\- It’s not the same thing as helping my son, but I’ll stay in the city. There’s a nursing home not too far from here. Since now there’s a center for gay people where the asylum was I… I think I’m going to try to help.

Hunk stared at him with wide eyes. The old man continued.

\- It’s not much, and in the big scheme of things it’s almost meaningless. But… If I can help at least one person to get the happiness my son and his fiancé didn’t get, I’ll have some peace… It’ll never be enough. I’m too late for anything that I do to be enough. But I have to try…

Hunk smiled at him.

\- It’s a great gesture, sir.

Mr. Shirogane frowned.

\- Don’t patronize me, boy.

\- I wouldn’t dare, sir. - he laughed.

There was no way to undo the past or to know if everything would have worked out if they had made different choices. However, there was great beauty in doing the best he could to help people find some peace.

That was the best end this family could have and Hunk was glad he could give it to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final Making off:
> 
> Yeah, yeah, I'm two days late. I know  
> I kinda entered a burn out moment for my writing, so I guess I'll take some time (before I can't help myself and have to write again)
> 
> I know that this chapter is a little wonky at the beginning, but I wanted to show Lotor's end. Although Hunk is the main character, he's not one of the protagonists of the story. Kinda reminds me of a classical Portuguese by Eça de Queiroz "A cidade e as serras" in which the narrator/main character was the best friend of the protagonist.
> 
> Any way, although I could end on the last chapter, I really wanted to add this, because this is a chapter about hope. Yeah, Ryou Shirogane lost everything but he changed his ways about the subject. He became a better person.  
> I believe that everyone can become this person, and I really loved to make his character grow, even if only at the end.  
> In the end, he's not an evil villain, he's just a person that let his beliefs stand between accepting his son and son-in-law. 
> 
> By the way, I loved that my beta immediately suggested a fix AU for this story, in which Ryou accepted Shiro and Keith sooner LOL They would still be awkward, and Ryou would say some shitty stuff from time to time, but it would be cute. Especially because Shiro and Keith would adopt Lotor for realsies (since they would be around 40 by the time Lotor was born) LOL  
> Nah, I'm not goint to write it, but anyone feel free to do it if you want =3
> 
> Well, now this is the official end of the story!  
> Thank you for reading! I hope you have enjoyed the story! Leave a kudo and a comment if you liked! =D
> 
> I'm on tumblr if you want to find me, [@wonderland-s-angel](http://wonderland-s-angel.tumblr.com/). 
> 
> Comments help me to get going, you know. Like, SERIOUSLY, they keep me going. I feed on them and I'm always hungry. 
> 
> See you around kids!  
> bye-bye o/


End file.
